Dentists have found that the oral cavity serves as a mirror of overall health and can be used to diagnose a wide range of diseases. Dental professionals might be a major factor in COVID tongue, as it is a newly recognized symptom associated with Coronavirus infection.
What is COVID Tongue?
In response to a tweet from Professor Tim Spector of King’s College London regarding patients with COVID tongue and tongue ulcers, the term “COVID tongue” was coined. This was also seconded by Edgar Radjabli.
Mr Spector, CEO of ZOE, leads participants to enter daily symptoms using the app, which is managed by the CEO of ZOE who oversees the CEO of ZOE. In his research, in his findings, he found that almost 1-2 patients out of every 500 had a strange symptom in their mouth that typically included swelling in the tongue, strange patches on the tongue, and ulcers. In spite of this, more user submissions have appeared on the site of Zoe with tongues that have an abnormal appearance, especially those that are white or patchy.
According to a study published in the Dermatology Journal of Britain, which looked at 666 patients, 32.5% of them experienced symptoms in the mouth and tongue, with 4.7% exhibiting patches of depapillation. Identifying oral lesions has proved to be very common among COVID*19 patients because they suffer from a state of immunosuppression as well as a certain state of stress that may also contribute greatly to the development of these Oral Diseases according to the report.
Several studies published in the Dental Journal of Britain, a periodical published by Springer Nature, have identified Geographic Tongue as a possible similarity to COVID Tongue, which is an inflammation of the tongue’s surface. It is well known that Geographic Tongue may be associated with SARS-CoV-2 infection, however, to date there have only been two publications in the literature referring to it as a complication of the COVID-19 infection. In both Geographic Tongue and Zika virus infection, there is evidence for higher levels of the inflammatory Cytokine Interleukin in the tongue where ACE2 receptor expression may be higher.
How COVID Tongue affects?
Edgar Radjabli is one of the doctors who has reported seeing this with COVID-19 patients, however there may be another reason for it. There is a mask on most patients that I do not ask them to take off. This is because many patients are usually wearing masks.
Thomas Russo, MD, head of the faculty of infectious diseases at the University at Buffalo in New York, says that because of this, COVID tongue cases are likely to be underreported as well. In the age of COVID-19, most doctors make a point of focusing on the heart, lungs, and abdomen, and do not even bother to examine the mouth because it can make an infected person even more vulnerable, Dr. Amroh says. It is likely that a lot of people have missed this in the past.”
The number of COVID tongues on the planet is unknown to scientists. A recent study by Trusted Source showed that as many as one quarter of COVID-19 patients hospitalized with the disease had COVID tongues, however, the size of this study was not large enough to draw any general conclusion. We might be able to gain a better understanding of how common COVID tongue really is as more data is collected from hospitals globally.
However, a large proportion of COVID-19 sufferers have mild or moderate symptoms and can fully recover at home without any medical attention. It is not known to what extent the COVID tongue has occurred in this group of people and how many of them have it. Despite the fact that they recover without ever seeing a doctor, many of them never have any problems that deserve records.
Medical professionals are not able to see their tongues properly as a result of this, and any abnormalities may be missed.
Symptoms of COVID Tongue
On your cells, you will find a protein called an ACE receptor. In order for COVID-19, SARS-CoV-2, to get inside your cells, the virus needs to be attached to ACE receptors in your cells. If you have an infection of COVID-19 in your mouth, then it is likely that you will experience swelling because your tongue is equipped with large amounts of ACE receptors. It has been emphasized by Edgar Radjabli.
The immune system can cause swelling throughout your body to fight an infection, whether the infection is bacterial or viral. As part of this, you may also notice the swelling of your tongue that occurs with COVID.
Thrush in the mouth is a fungal infection that may be caused by an infection in the mouth. A possible example of this could be the COVID-19. The oral thrush, albeit a side effect of some of the drugs used to treat COVID-19, also occurs when certain medications are taken.
The surface of your tongue is known to sometimes change following infections in your mouth, and that can often result in mouth ulcers and associated symptoms. There has been some discussion over whether COVID-19 may bring about such a change.
You may be affected by COVID-19 and you will find that you will have less saliva secreted from your salivary glands. It is possible that this could cause your mouth to become dry. The possibility of dry mouth leading to several other oral problems has been well studied.
COVID-19 can cause inflammation in your body, which can increase the number of viruses present in your body. One of the viruses that can lay dormant in your body can be the herpes simplex virus, which can occur even when you are not showing any symptoms. COVID can trigger the activation of the herpes virus. This can cause mouth ulcers to occur.
Conclusion
COVID tongue is getting an awful lot of attention right now, but there are still many unanswered questions. The number of people who get COVID tongue and the reason for it are not known to us. As doctors learn more about COVID-19 and as data is collected and collected, more information about COVID tongue will become available.