Most taste buds are located on the protruding structures on the surface of the tongue, which are called lingual papillae. There are four different papillae on the tongue, including filiform papillae in front of the tongue, mushroom papillae mainly distributed on the tip of the tongue, leaf papillae behind the tongue and wheel papillae usually located at the base of the tongue, which are arranged in a ring shape. Tongue frenulum refers to a thin film bonded between the sublingual side and the bottom of the mouth, which has the function of stabilizing tongue movement.
There is no difference in tongue structure between adults and children, only the difference in size.
Small tongue with multiple functions and flexible tongue can help the baby stir and chew food, and then rely on the muscle strength and swallowing reflex of the tongue to let the food enter the esophagus through the hypopharyngeal cavity to complete the swallowing action. Babies rely on their tongues to suck milk and swallow.
Food has various tastes, and the feeling of perceiving taste is called taste. Tongue is one of the taste organs, and the taste buds covering its surface contain taste cells, which is the place where babies taste sour, bitter, sweet, salty and umami.
When the baby grows to 1 year, the tongue begins to have some functions of pronunciation and articulation. Almost all phonetic symbols can only be pronounced by the cooperation of the tongue.
A healthy tongue Generally speaking, a healthy tongue itself should be reddish with a thin layer of white fur, which should be pale white, also called thin white fur. Hong Yili, an attending physician in pediatrics at Guotai Hospital, pointed out that epithelial cells of tongue papillae are metabolized and accumulated between filiform papillae, and food residues in oral cavity are mixed with saliva to form a thin white tongue coating called tongue coating.
Learn about your health from your tongue. Give your baby a simple cleaning 4 months before going to bed. Because there is no need to replenish water, Dr. Hong Yili suggested that mom and dad just dip a gauze towel in disinfectant water, that is, the boiling water usually used to brew formula milk, and wipe the tongue and the inside of the mouth. Babies over 4 months old can start to contact non-staple food. After eating non-staple food or milk, drink more boiled water without special cleaning.
Children after 2 years old have many teeth. As long as they brush their teeth, they can brush the surface of their tongue with a toothbrush. When is the best time to clean the tongue coating? Dr. Hong Yili suggested that you can keep your mouth clean during the whole night's sleep before going to bed after drinking milk every night.
From the perspective of traditional Chinese medicine, tongue diagnosis is a part of traditional Chinese medicine diagnosis, and the tongue is connected with the five internal organs through meridians. Therefore, the deficiency and excess of human viscera, qi and blood, body fluid and the change of disease severity may be objectively reflected on the tongue. By observing the tongue, we can understand the deficiency and excess of viscera and the nature, severity and changes of diseases.
Does tongue position correspond to organ function? Some Chinese medicine practitioners divide the tongue into the tip of the tongue, the middle of the tongue, the root of the tongue and the side of the tongue. They believe that the tip of the tongue belongs to the heart and lungs, the tongue belongs to the spleen and stomach, the root of the tongue belongs to the kidney, and both sides of the tongue belong to the liver and gallbladder. However, according to Wu Jiandong's clinical experience in Linsen Hospital of Taipei United Hospital, at most, the front part of the tongue is eccentric and the back part is partial to the digestive system, so it is impossible to subdivide many areas.
Understand the health status from tongue point 1 and tongue quality, among which tongue quality, also called tongue body, refers to the color of muscle itself or tongue surface, which mainly reflects the deficiency and excess of viscera and the rise and fall of qi and blood. If the color is white, Chinese medicine believes that it may be due to insufficient blood gas's congestion and poor energy, which may be deficiency cold; If it is bright red, it means hyperemia, excessive internal heat or excessive energy.
Normal lingual muscles should be thicker, but when the qi is weak, the lingual muscles are softer and easier to get bigger, and some of them will press against the teeth next to them, so there should be tooth marks on the tongue. In addition, if the body circulation is not smooth, there is pain or blood stasis, and even some people take aspirin for a long time, the body will easily appear patches of purple spots, and the tongue will also appear patches of stasis spots, which is the tongue of blood stasis type.
Point2, the change of tongue coating is mainly used to judge the depth and severity of exogenous pathogens and the rise and fall of stomach qi. That is, the influence of the outside world on the body, such as: when the weather gets cold, the tongue coating may turn white; If you eat bad stomach, your tongue coating will thicken.
Various manifestations of tongue coating When the body is unwell, the function of the tongue will become worse, the cleaning ability of the oral cavity will become worse, and the tongue coating will become thicker and thicker, that is, mastoid hyperplasia or white segment thickening may occur. When the tongue coating is thick, it may be due to poor digestive function, qi deficiency or wet weight, which is mostly related to eating ice products and sweets.
And white moss looks like tofu residue, and its digestive system is poor. The food it eats is undigested and accumulated in the stomach, which is called "overnight food". Some people don't even have tongue coating, which may be caused by anger or dry tongue, that is, the tongue sticks out like a mirror, which is generally considered as a symbol of yin deficiency or fiery heat.
There is another situation, which may be that the internal heat is slightly stronger, but it has not reached the degree of yin deficiency, so the mushroom-shaped nipple in the middle is enlarged due to congestion, so the tongue surface looks pale and there is a little erythema on it, that is, some people say that "red star tongue" and "Zhu spot" belong to the state of strong internal heat.
Knowing the health status from tongue diagnosis is only an auxiliary means. Although Chinese medicine can see the clues of the body from the tongue, after all, children can't fully cooperate with instructions like adults. If you ask him to spit out his tongue, he will listen to the doctor. If you forcibly open your mouth to observe, you will cry, so Chinese medicine can only take a look and can't observe it carefully.
So in addition to seeing a doctor-observing the child's appearance, spirit and vitality, also called "consultation"-ask the child's main caregiver. Sometimes uncles and aunts bring their babies to see a doctor, but they can't ask anything, and they will still call when necessary. In addition, Chinese medicine has a special method to diagnose children, such as "fingerprints", such as the blood vessels on the side of the index finger, from which the condition can be inferred. This is because children under 5 years old have unstable blood vessels and skin diseases.
Understand the health status from the tongue. Some tongue-related diseases will also be directly reflected on the tongue, such as Kawasaki disease, which often occurs under 5 years old. One of the symptoms is that the taste buds on the tongue become obvious, showing a red, swollen and swollen state, like a red strawberry; If you are infected with Streptococcus A, that is, scarlet fever, your child's tongue will become like a white strawberry. Also, as the temperature rises, more active enterovirus and vesicular angina are two infectious diseases, and sometimes blisters or ulcers are found on children's tongues.
Learn about your health from your tongue. In addition to excluding disease factors, the most common tongue problem of children belongs to the tongue hole, which may be caused by careless scalding of milk recently or poor immunity, or it may be an unknown injury. Dr. Hong Yili reminded that there is generally only one such hole. If multiple holes are found, parents should pay more attention and seek medical treatment as soon as possible if necessary.
Basically, the hole in the child's tongue will heal itself. However, dad should pay attention to the temperature and taste of the food to avoid * * *. Suppose this hole affects your appetite, you may ask for a diagnosis to see if it may be other reasons.
Usually, the doctor will prescribe oral ointment for parents to wipe on the child's tongue hole; Or use oral spray to accelerate wound healing; Sometimes even if the medicine is rubbed, it will still make the child feel pain. Pediatric Dentistry will have an ointment for external use to make the mucosa slightly stop pain and coagulate. At this time, pediatrics will help refer you to stomatology for help.
Dr. Wu Jiandong suggested that children should have a light diet, drink plenty of water, avoid eating hard food, and prescribe some drugs to nourish spleen and stomach yin. However, the most important thing is not to be too tired and not to stay up late; Don't eat sweets and hot food, otherwise the cause can't be alleviated, even if no amount of medicine is in vain.
Western medicine emphasizes two points when looking at a baby's tongue-whether the shape and size of the tongue are symmetrical and whether the tongue strap is too short.
It is too short to know the health status from the lingual frenum. Tongue frenulum is also one of the most frequently asked questions by parents. If the tongue strap is too short, the tongue will be tight, which will hinder the function of pushing the tongue outward, backward or upward. If you can't roll up your tongue, your pronunciation will be unclear and you will become a Lickitung. There is no basis for the diagnosis of lingual frenulum contraction. Dr. Hong Yili said that it is recommended to observe 1 year. When the child opens his mouth and spits out his tongue, the tip of the tongue should not exceed the lower lip or the tip of the tongue is W-shaped, which can be corrected by surgery as soon as possible.
The so-called tongue painting means that the tongue has become a fragment, and there seems to be no tongue coating in the middle part. From the perspective of traditional Chinese medicine, the tongue is a child with a map tongue, and its immune system is poor, and it is easy to be accompanied by allergic rhinitis, atopic dermatitis and asthma. However, from the point of view of western medicine, map tongue does not mean suffering from diseases, but it is easy for children to have map tongue when their sleep quality and defecation are poor, that is, when they have poor circulation or catch a cold. Generally speaking, children themselves will not feel abnormal or uncomfortable, and the map tongue will heal itself without special friction. Ask dad to provide children with more sleep time than mommy, and add more water and fruit.
Hong Yili is currently the attending physician of pediatrics in Guotai Hospital. Education: Master's degree from Institute of Clinical Medicine, Taiwan Province Provincial University. Experience: Director of Children and Adolescent Medicine Department of Minsheng Hospital, part-time attending physician of pediatrics department of National Taiwan University Hospital, and researcher of pediatrics and neonatology department of National Taiwan University Hospital.
Wu Jiandong is currently a Chinese medicine practitioner at Linsen Hospital of Taipei United Hospital. Education: Institute of Occupational Medicine and Industrial Hygiene, Taiwan Province University Experience: expert in family medicine in Taiwan Province Province, secretary general of Taiwan Province Family Medicine Association of Traditional Chinese Medicine.