Source: C14 Chinese tongue diagnosis chart by Wellcome Collection under CC 1.0
Greetings Hivers and natural medicine advocates! I'm posting this here, because there aren't many places on the Hive for Eastern Medicine. This post is based on a patient's question about why their tongue has indentations on the sides. Please let me know if this type of content is ok here. Thank you in advance!
Tongue Diagnosis
Tongue diagnosis is an important diagnostic feature in Eastern medicine (EM), because it gives the practitioner vital information about what’s going on inside the patient’s body, in particular, the functional activity as related to the different organ systems. When morphological changes are present on the tongue, they represent physiological and pathological changes within the body in terms of fluid pathology, thermal variations between hot & cold, energy levels, the state of qi & blood, and the severity of illness or disease. These manifest as changes in tongue vitality, shape, size, color, coating, papillae, and movement. Below I will describe the significance of one of the most common tongue features seen in Western patients - glossitis or swollen tongue (with teeth marks).
Source: HLA clinic photo by Scott Stewart.
Scalloped Tongue
In TCM, a swollen tongue is usually accompanied with teeth marks on the sides, also referred to as a scalloped tongue. This pathological manifestation is associated with Spleen deficiency, Spleen Qi deficiency, and Spleen Yang deficiency with an accumulation of dampness.
This type of presentation is a very common presentation in Western patients who often have Spleen deficiency, which can be caused by an improper diet, eating fast foods, fried and greasy foods, cold foods and drinks, and worrying / overthinking; all of which tax the Spleen and cause a reduction in its functional capacity of transformation & transportation of fluids. The importance of this functional role can be seen in the Spleen’s ability to work with the Stomach to transform nutrients from food into energy, transport those nutrients to other organs and tissues of the body in the form of nourishment, and finally, to transport waste downward to be eliminated. When this metabolic mechanism is disrupted, dampness (fluid) that should have been eliminated begins to accumulate, and is reflected in the swollen image of the tongue.
In terms of biomedicine, a swollen tongue or glossitis, can be a sign of nutritional deficiencies such as; iron, folate and B12 depending on the color of the tongue. Keep in mind, nutritional deficiencies are not diagnosed by tongue analysis, but rather through lab tests.
I hope this was informative for those who are interested in Eastern medicine. There are many other tongue images that we see in the clinic and I will include those in future posts; also, if you any tongue questions, please let me know and I can address those as well.
