Over the past 8 years I have episodes of which my taste buds towards
the front sides of my tongue, (I believe where the salty taste buds
are,)become irritated.  I then bite at them to relieve the irritation,
which only makes them worse, leaving a shiny reddened area or sometime
a white patch, or sometimes a single raised white taste bud.  I feel
this is more prone to occur during stressful times.  But what I'd like
to know is what causes it and how can it be cured?

Dear crabblegs-ga;

Thank you for allowing me an opportunity to answer your interesting
question. If you?ve read our disclaimer you know that we cannot
provide medical advice. However, what we typically do is provide
published information about medical problems to let you know what has
been known about them.

Having said that, I have good news and bad news. If you have what I
suspect you have there is no absolute cure but the good news is that
it isn?t serious, rather mainly bothersome.

While you?re problem could indeed many caused by any number of things
such as allergy, etc, if you have what I suspect you have it is called
Geographic Tongue (Benign Migratory Glossitis). Why do I suspect this
and not something else? Simple, because I suffer from it too and I?ve
already educated myself about it extensively, so I know exactly what
you are going through. Fortunately though my condition didn?t manifest
until I was in my early 40?s so I haven?t had to deal with it all my
life.

Geographic Tongue is actually a dermatological condition of the mouth.
It is a benign condition where there is a map-like appearance to the
tongue resulting from irregular denuded patches in the surface (loss
of tongue papillae). In many people the malady is secondary to local
irritation from hot or spicy foods, alcohol, or tobacco. In other
words, an existing or acquired sensitivity to certain stimuli caused
the irritation and in some people it continues off and on for life.

People who suffer from this relatively unimportant problem sometimes
report patchy areas on their tongue that resembles something similar
to a map of the continents ? hence the name, Geographic Tongue. These
patches can be raised a bit or they can be slick and shiny. In rare
cases some people even report cracking, burning or bleeding and
blister on the tongue that can be alarming but these symptoms tend to
come and go. Physicians normally suggest a person identify foods and
activities that seem to bring about the worst symptoms and simply
avoid them. It is safe to assume that alcohol and tobacco are
irritants and they should be avoided as well.

There are no real complications from Geographic Tongue and in really
bad cases doctors do treat it. They sometimes prescribe topical
cortisone preparations, like desoximetasone.

Here are some discussions with people who suffer and doctors who treat
the condition:

MEDHELP
http://www.medhelp.org/forums/dermatology/messages/31717.html


I hope you find that my research exceeds your expectations. If you
have any questions about my research please post a clarification
request prior to rating the answer. Otherwise, I welcome your rating
and your final comments and I look forward to working with you again
in the near future. Thank you for bringing your question to us.

Best regards;
Tutuzdad ? Google Answers Researcher


OTHER INFORMATION SOURCES

ALLREFER HEALTH
http://health.allrefer.com/health/geographic-tongue-symptoms.html

MEDLINE PLUS
http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/ency/article/001049.htm

UNIVERSITY OF MARYLAND
http://www.umm.edu/ency/article/001049sym.htm

DERMNETZ
http://dermnetnz.org/site-age-specific/geographic-tongue.html



SEARCH STRATEGY


SEARCH ENGINES USED:

Google ://www.google.com




SEARCH TERMS USED:


BENIGN MIGRATORY GLOSSITIS

GEOGRAPHIC TONGUE

thanks for your quick and accurate response.  I have been bothered by
this for some time.  I've even asked doctors about it and all they did
was brush me off.  Now I know where so start trying to narrow done
precipitating factors.  Thanks so much!  Some of the articles state
that this condition consistently moving, mine is usually in the same
areas, but I'm pretty confident that geographic tongue is what i
suffer from.