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DOI: 10.1055/s-0042-1757611
COVID Tongue: Reports, Debate, and Scope for Research
Dental and medical doctors well report the oral manifestations of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) infection. Knowledge of oral manifestations also provides a scope for detecting asymptomatic or presymptomatic COVID-19 patients. Predominant reports stated dry mouth, loss of taste sensation, and oral ulcerations.[1] [2] Recently, an article has reported specific changes observed in the tongue during COVID-19 infection as “COVID tongue.” The first article published by Hathway appears to document the first report on “COVID tongue” in PubMed literature.[3] Reports also suggested that the appearance of the COVID tongue shall be considered a preliminary sign of COVID-19 infection. Recently, an article stated that tissue changes observed in the tongue are related to viral replication due to higher expression of angiotensin-converting enzyme-2.[4]
The changes in the COVID tongue shall be related to the geographic tongue or benign migratory glossitis. In the case of symptomatic geographic tongue, the term of migratory stomatitis is used.[5] It is interesting to note that various studies on COVID-19 infection stated that geographic tongue is an oral presentation. The studies that documented tongue changes in the COVID-19 condition are listed in [Table 1].
Age |
Gender |
Reported changes of tongue |
Associated symptoms |
Medical status of patient |
Management |
Reference |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
70 |
Female |
Geographic tongue Erythematous candidiasis |
– |
– |
– |
Riad et al, 2021[15] |
12 cases |
Depapillation on dorsum of tongue |
– |
– |
– |
Nuño González et al, 2021[16] |
|
43 |
Female |
Geographic tongue (dorsum) |
Burning sensation, aphthous-like lesions |
– |
– |
Rodríguez et al, 2022[17] |
67 |
Male |
Geographic and fissured tongue |
White plaque changes, multiple pin head sized yellow-colored ulcers resembling herpetic ulcers |
Hospitalized patient |
Fluconazole and nystatin. The lesion healed in 2-week period |
Amorim dos Santos et al, 2020[18] |
37 |
Female |
Depapillation and diffuse erythematous changes on lateral surface of tongue |
Mucositis |
– |
– |
Tomo et al., 2022[19] |
50 |
Female |
Depapillation in lateral and dorsum area |
Pain and burning sensation |
Injection of triamcinolone acetonide 40 mg/mL |
Lombardi et al, 2022[20] |
|
3 cases |
Depapillation |
Hospitalized patient |
– |
Villarroel-Dorrego et al, 2022[21] |
Abbreviation: COVID-19, coronavirus disease 2019.
The geographic tongue is characterized by the depapillation of the tongue's dorsum and lateral surfaces, leading to an erythematous appearance with white-border surroundings.[6] The areas of depapillation can heal and spontaneously occur in other regions of the tongue, hence the term “migratory glossitis” was used. It is well-known that geographic tongue can also be seen as sporadic cases without significant ill-health changes. Then, the following report by Scotto et al that the term COVID tongue in clinical sign called tongue depapillation, none of these had the geographic tongue characteristic.[7] The unique characteristic was that depapillation can heal and spontaneously occur in other regions.
On the other hand, the geographic tongue is classified according to the activity and severity of the lesion. There are two classifications: active geographic tongues with lesions that have well-demarcated white or red borders ([Fig. 1A–D]) and passive geographic tongues with lesions without whitish borders but still have depapillated areas ([Fig. 1E–G]).[8] The differences in thickening white margins reflected increased activity and severity.[9] Although the migratory condition is not found and observed in COVID-19 cases, the thing that is definitely reported was tongue depapillation ([Fig. 1H]).


The tongue changes are debatable due to inconsistency in presentation among COVID-19 patients. Specifically, the clinical appearance of geographic tongue in non-COVID-19 patients and COVID-19 patients is unable to be differentiated. But the symptoms, management, and predisposing factor are able to differentiate ([Table 2]). Although oral manifestations of COVID 19 are not fully established, clinicians should be updated on the changes of the tongue that may be seen in a few COVID-19 patients. Recent research showed that the tongue condition should be recommended for COVID-19 screening.[10] It is challenging for a dentist, oral medicine specialist, or general medical practitioner to differentiate between COVID-19 association, isolated geographic tongue, or an oral manifestation of the medical condition. It is well-documented that geographic tongue is associated with genetic changes,[11] allergies,[8] hormonal,[12] vitamin, or micronutrient deficiencies,[8] psoriasis,[13] medications, and smoking.[8] Association of geographic tongue among psoriasis is not observed in all patients. The studies have documented strong association of human leukocyte antigen (HLA) CW6 among geographic/fissured tongue changes in psoriasis patients.[14] Similarly, future studies should focus on any association of HLA among COVID-19 patients for the occurrence of tongue changes. Although the mechanism of geographic tongue in COVID-19 is still not precise, dentists, oral medicine specialists, or general medical practitioners should ask their patients while taking a history of illness “whether any changes in the appearance of the tongue have been recently noted.”
Abbreviation: COVID, coronavirus disease.
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Conflict of Interest
None declared.
Ethical Approval
The ethical approval or consent statement is not required in this study.
-
References
- 1 Santosh ABR. Dental management in coronavirus disease 2019 outbreak. Eur Dent Res Biomaterial J 2020; 1: 1-2
- 2 Rajendra Santosh AB, Isaac IS, Krishnamurthy K, Baddam VRR. Asymptomatic COVID-19 and saliva: Let's ask “Do you feel that saliva in your mouth had reduced in recent times?”. Int J Clin Pract 2020; 74 (12) e13657
- 3 Hathway RW. COVID tongue. Br Dent J 2021; 230 (03) 114-114
- 4 Xu H, Zhong L, Deng J. et al. High expression of ACE2 receptor of 2019-nCoV on the epithelial cells of oral mucosa. Int J Oral Sci 2020; 12 (01) 8
- 5 Bernaola-Paredes WE, Filho VB, Vilela Dias EM, Sugaya NN. A case of migratory stomatitis in a young male patient: Management and differential diagnosis. J Oral Maxillofac Pathol 2022; 26 (Suppl. 01) S17-S21
- 6 Ogueta C I, Ramírez P M, Jiménez O C, Cifuentes M M. Geographic tongue: what a dermatologist should know [in Spanish]. Actas Dermosifiliogr (Engl Ed) 2019; 110 (05) 341-346
-
7
Scotto G,
Fazio V,
Spirito F,
lo Muzio E,
lo Muzio L.
. COVID tongue: suggestive hypothesis or clinical reality? Oral Diseases [Internet]. 2022. Accessed September 10, 2022, at: https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/odi.14134
- 8 Dafar A, Çevik-Aras H, Robledo-Sierra J, Mattsson U, Jontell M. Factors associated with geographic tongue and fissured tongue. Acta Odontol Scand 2016; 74 (03) 210-216
- 9 Picciani BLS, Santos LR, Teixeira-Souza T. et al. Geographic tongue severity index: a new and clinical scoring system. Oral Surg Oral Med Oral Pathol Oral Radiol 2020; 129 (04) 330-338
- 10 Zhang G, He X, Li D, Tian C, Wei B. Automated screening of COVID-19-based tongue image on Chinese medicine. BioMed Res Int 2022; 2022: 6825576
- 11 Liang J, Huang P, Li H. et al. Mutations in IL36RN are associated with geographic tongue. Hum Genet 2017; 136 (02) 241-252
- 12 Alikhani M, Khalighinejad N, Ghalaiani P, Khaleghi MA, Askari E, Gorsky M. Immunologic and psychologic parameters associated with geographic tongue. Oral Surg Oral Med Oral Pathol Oral Radiol 2014; 118 (01) 68-71
- 13 Picciani BLS, Domingos TA, Teixeira-Souza T. et al. Geographic tongue and psoriasis: clinical, histopathological, immunohistochemical and genetic correlation - a literature review. An Bras Dermatol 2016; 91 (04) 410-421
- 14 Babu RA, Chandrashekar P, Kumar KK. et al. A study on oral mucosal lesions in 3500 patients with dermatological diseases in South India. Ann Med Health Sci Res 2014; 4 (Suppl. 02) S84-S93
- 15 Riad A, Gomaa E, Hockova B, Klugar M. Oral candidiasis of COVID-19 patients: case report and review of evidence. J Cosmet Dermatol 2021; 20 (06) 1580-1584
- 16 Nuño González A, Magaletskyy K, Martín Carrillo P. et al. Are oral mucosal changes a sign of COVID-19? A cross-sectional study at a field hospital. Actas Dermosifiliogr (Engl Ed) 2021; 112: 640-644 (English Edition)
- 17 Rodríguez MD, Romera AJ, Villarroel M. Oral manifestations associated with COVID-19. Oral Dis 2022; 28 Suppl 1 (Suppl. 01) 960-962
- 18 Amorim Dos Santos J, Normando AGC, Carvalho da Silva RL. et al. Oral mucosal lesions in a COVID-19 patient: new signs or secondary manifestations?. Int J Infect Dis 2020; 97: 326-328
- 19 Tomo S, Miyahara GI, Simonato LE. Oral mucositis in a SARS-CoV-2-infected patient: secondary or truly associated condition?. Oral Dis 2022; 28 Suppl 1: 963-967
-
20
Lombardi N,
Moneghini L,
Varoni EM,
Lodi G.
. Nodular migratory tongue lesions: atypical geographic tongue or a new entity? Oral Diseases [Internet]. 2022. Accessed September 10, 2022, at: https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/odi.14158
- 21 Villarroel-Dorrego M, Chacón L, Rosas R, Barrios V, Pernía Y, Vélez H. Hallazgos bucales en pacientes COVID-19. Actas Dermosifiliogr 2022; 113 (02) 183-186
Address for correspondence
Publication History
Article published online:
12 October 2022
© 2022. Bhojia Dental College and Hospital affiliated to Himachal Pradesh University. This is an open access article published by Thieme under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonDerivative-NonCommercial License, permitting copying and reproduction so long as the original work is given appropriate credit. Contents may not be used for commercial purposes, or adapted, remixed, transformed or built upon. (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/)
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-
References
- 1 Santosh ABR. Dental management in coronavirus disease 2019 outbreak. Eur Dent Res Biomaterial J 2020; 1: 1-2
- 2 Rajendra Santosh AB, Isaac IS, Krishnamurthy K, Baddam VRR. Asymptomatic COVID-19 and saliva: Let's ask “Do you feel that saliva in your mouth had reduced in recent times?”. Int J Clin Pract 2020; 74 (12) e13657
- 3 Hathway RW. COVID tongue. Br Dent J 2021; 230 (03) 114-114
- 4 Xu H, Zhong L, Deng J. et al. High expression of ACE2 receptor of 2019-nCoV on the epithelial cells of oral mucosa. Int J Oral Sci 2020; 12 (01) 8
- 5 Bernaola-Paredes WE, Filho VB, Vilela Dias EM, Sugaya NN. A case of migratory stomatitis in a young male patient: Management and differential diagnosis. J Oral Maxillofac Pathol 2022; 26 (Suppl. 01) S17-S21
- 6 Ogueta C I, Ramírez P M, Jiménez O C, Cifuentes M M. Geographic tongue: what a dermatologist should know [in Spanish]. Actas Dermosifiliogr (Engl Ed) 2019; 110 (05) 341-346
-
7
Scotto G,
Fazio V,
Spirito F,
lo Muzio E,
lo Muzio L.
. COVID tongue: suggestive hypothesis or clinical reality? Oral Diseases [Internet]. 2022. Accessed September 10, 2022, at: https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/odi.14134
- 8 Dafar A, Çevik-Aras H, Robledo-Sierra J, Mattsson U, Jontell M. Factors associated with geographic tongue and fissured tongue. Acta Odontol Scand 2016; 74 (03) 210-216
- 9 Picciani BLS, Santos LR, Teixeira-Souza T. et al. Geographic tongue severity index: a new and clinical scoring system. Oral Surg Oral Med Oral Pathol Oral Radiol 2020; 129 (04) 330-338
- 10 Zhang G, He X, Li D, Tian C, Wei B. Automated screening of COVID-19-based tongue image on Chinese medicine. BioMed Res Int 2022; 2022: 6825576
- 11 Liang J, Huang P, Li H. et al. Mutations in IL36RN are associated with geographic tongue. Hum Genet 2017; 136 (02) 241-252
- 12 Alikhani M, Khalighinejad N, Ghalaiani P, Khaleghi MA, Askari E, Gorsky M. Immunologic and psychologic parameters associated with geographic tongue. Oral Surg Oral Med Oral Pathol Oral Radiol 2014; 118 (01) 68-71
- 13 Picciani BLS, Domingos TA, Teixeira-Souza T. et al. Geographic tongue and psoriasis: clinical, histopathological, immunohistochemical and genetic correlation - a literature review. An Bras Dermatol 2016; 91 (04) 410-421
- 14 Babu RA, Chandrashekar P, Kumar KK. et al. A study on oral mucosal lesions in 3500 patients with dermatological diseases in South India. Ann Med Health Sci Res 2014; 4 (Suppl. 02) S84-S93
- 15 Riad A, Gomaa E, Hockova B, Klugar M. Oral candidiasis of COVID-19 patients: case report and review of evidence. J Cosmet Dermatol 2021; 20 (06) 1580-1584
- 16 Nuño González A, Magaletskyy K, Martín Carrillo P. et al. Are oral mucosal changes a sign of COVID-19? A cross-sectional study at a field hospital. Actas Dermosifiliogr (Engl Ed) 2021; 112: 640-644 (English Edition)
- 17 Rodríguez MD, Romera AJ, Villarroel M. Oral manifestations associated with COVID-19. Oral Dis 2022; 28 Suppl 1 (Suppl. 01) 960-962
- 18 Amorim Dos Santos J, Normando AGC, Carvalho da Silva RL. et al. Oral mucosal lesions in a COVID-19 patient: new signs or secondary manifestations?. Int J Infect Dis 2020; 97: 326-328
- 19 Tomo S, Miyahara GI, Simonato LE. Oral mucositis in a SARS-CoV-2-infected patient: secondary or truly associated condition?. Oral Dis 2022; 28 Suppl 1: 963-967
-
20
Lombardi N,
Moneghini L,
Varoni EM,
Lodi G.
. Nodular migratory tongue lesions: atypical geographic tongue or a new entity? Oral Diseases [Internet]. 2022. Accessed September 10, 2022, at: https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/odi.14158
- 21 Villarroel-Dorrego M, Chacón L, Rosas R, Barrios V, Pernía Y, Vélez H. Hallazgos bucales en pacientes COVID-19. Actas Dermosifiliogr 2022; 113 (02) 183-186

