A tingling sensation experienced on one side of tongue takes place more often due to injury, infection and nerve problems. You shall come to know the most common reasons associated with tingling in the tongue, from this article. Read on…
The tingling sensation felt on the tongue is often accompanied by numbness. This condition is medically termed as paraesthesia, and the symptom is exactly explained as, feeling a sensation of ‘pins and needles’ on the tongue. Tongue tingling on one side is experienced more often due to twitching of a nerve or application of pressure over a nerve surrounding the tongue. In chronic cases, it’s a consequence of malfunctioning of neurons. A tingling sensation might also be perceived in the jaws and lips due to similar reasons. We shall explain to you some of the most common reasons behind this medical disorder.
Causes of Tingling Tongue
The causes of a tingling tongue are associated mostly with neurological disorders and surgeries of the mouth. Differential pressure is felt around the tongue as a result of abnormal heart pressure. Initially, the symptoms might go unnoticed because they are almost similar to pain experienced after biting your tongue hard. Whether tongue pain is on one side or the entire tongue is tingling, the underlying reasons are same. You will often experience such symptoms while suffering from anxiety, depression, and lack of sleep. Tingling in tongue also results from food allergy, wherein you lose taste and a strange metallic taste grips your mouth.
Hyperventilation Syndrome (HVS)
HVS is a disorder of the respiratory system, wherein a person breathes very deeply. Tingling pain in the tongue and mouth is one of the common symptoms of HVS, which is also accompanied by chest pain and a panic attack under a chronic situation. Respiratory alkalosis takes place, that further causes complications in the nervous system, ultimately causing paraesthesia of the tongue.
Burning Mouth Syndrome (BMS)
BMS is a very frustrating situation, wherein the tongue tends to tingle and scald at the same time. The symptoms extend to the palate and lips, and discomfort is experienced in the entire mouth. BMS affects mostly women of older age groups. The most common causes of BMS are hormonal deficiencies and damage of sensory neurons and taste glands. It could also be a side effect of drugs that cause dryness inside the mouth. Other reasons that give rise to a tingling sensation are oral candidiasis, denture allergies, nutritional deficiencies and acid reflux.
Inflammation of Tongue
One of the most common causes is infection of the tongue. Sores and blisters appear on the tongue that causes pain and pinching in the affected areas. Yeast infection with Candida albicans is common, where painful white patches appear on the tongue. Infection caused due to piercing or a newly pierced tongue which twitches a lot. The infection supports bacterial growth, that causes a tingling sensation in the tongue. Herpes on the tongue is also one of the reasons behind feeling the tongue getting pinched.
Nerve Disorders
Damage caused to lingual nerves as a result of dental anesthesia causes a tingling sensation and numbness in the tongue. This is often the case when a person undergoes dental surgeries like wisdom tooth extraction, root canaling, crown fillings, etc. Tingling in the nerves could also arise from cerebrovascular accident (CVA), where blood supply to the brain is hampered due to blockage in an artery. A person succumbs to strokes, and symptoms like tongue tingling, pain in the arms, haltered speech, etc., become evident.
Treatment for tingling tongue depends on the severity of the symptoms. Since it’s one of the symptoms of paraesthesia, tingling will reduce simultaneously with treatment of paraesthesia. Antibiotics are administered for curing fungal infections, while home remedies associated dipping the tongue in cold water are suggested to people suffering from tongue infections. Thus, treatment of the primary diseases is the sole cure for tingling of the tongue. Last but not the least, I must say that you should never neglect such conditions if tingling and numbness persist for a considerable period of time. Even if the intensity is less, you should get a medical check up done to get appropriate treatment at the right time.
