The Prevalence Of Tongue Lesions In Kashmir Population: A Study Of 865 Individuals

This is the first ever-detailed study of tongue diseases in Kashmir population, where the tongue conditions found in 80 patients (9.2%) of 865 consecutive patients screened. Both sexes were affected almost equally and only 6 patients were aware of their tongue disease. 10 patients had one or more systemic illness, 8 of them was on regular medications. Fissured tongue was the most prevalent condition, as it has been found in 38 (47.5%) patients, depapillated tongue in 19(23.75%) patients and geographic tongue in 13 (16.25%) patients, other disease conditions were found in a lesser number of patients. Fourteen patients had painful tongue conditions; other complaints included halitosis, speech interferences or swallowing difficulties. Fortunately, most tongue conditions can easily be diagnosed on clinical grounds by any experienced clinician, hence, the histopathological examination and other investigations are needed in only few cases. There is a wide variation in the prevalence of most of tongue diseases worldwide due to the lack of uniformity in criteria of the studies. Thus, more studies are needed in this regard.