information:highlighting, structural:scholar_edition
Disease

A congenital disorder of the tongue is that of ankyloglossia also known as tongue-tie. The tongue is tied to the floor of the mouth by a very short and thickened frenulum and this affects speech, eating, and swallowing.

The tongue is prone to several pathologies including glossitis and other inflammations such as geographic tongue, and median rhomboid glossitis; burning mouth syndrome, oral hairy leukoplakia, oral candidiasis (thrush), black hairy tongue, bifid tongue (due to failure in fusion of two lingual swellings of first pharyngeal arch) and fissured tongue.

There are several types of oral cancer that mainly affect the tongue. Mostly these are squamous cell carcinomas.

Food debris, desquamated epithelial cells and bacteria often form a visible tongue coating. This coating has been identified as a major factor contributing to bad breath (halitosis), which can be managed by using a tongue cleaner.