What is the reason for tongue cracking?

Many elderly people inadvertently find cracks of different lengths on the surface of their tongues, which makes them very nervous. I don't know why. This is a cracked tongue, also called a slotted tongue. In fact, many young people also appeared. The incidence of cracks and fissures on the back of the tongue, the front of the tongue and the edges of the tip of the tongue with different widths is 5%~ 10%. Five-tenths to ten-tenths of healthy people have congenital cleft tongue, which generally has no obvious symptoms and not much discomfort. With the increase of age, the consumption of internal diseases and the long-term existence of oral irritation factors, the lines and cracks on the tongue surface will expand and become obvious. Except for congenital cleft tongue caused by genetic factors, most cleft tongues are tongue images caused by fever and dehydration due to chronic consumptive diseases such as water and electrolyte disorder, vitamin deficiency, diabetes, chronic gastroenteritis's disease and liver cirrhosis. Mental stress, excessive fatigue, excessive smoking and drinking, long-term insomnia and other factors are also related; Poor oral hygiene, a large number of dental calculus, food residue, residual roots and crowns irritate the tongue. Traditional Chinese medicine believes that tongue surface crack is caused by fever, which is caused by heart fire, fever due to yin deficiency, fumigation with heat toxin, phlegm-heat condensation, deficiency of essence and blood or deficiency of yin and body fluid. Due to the atrophy of tongue mucosa, the longitudinal and transverse lines of tongue muscle are exposed to the surface, forming superficial cracks; Severe atrophic lesions of the tongue make the tongue epithelial layer lose its normal structure, some nipples flatten and fuse, and some atrophy and fracture form deep cracks. The tongue coating is thick and white with uneven distribution. Some have no tongue coating, bright red tongue color and many knife-shaped deep groove cracks on the tongue surface. Cracks are often shaped like veins, brain rings, herringbone, Sichuan, tree forks and so on. Patients with few and shallow cracks have soft tongue, free movement and normal taste; People with deep cracks are not covered with tongue coating, and it is easy to leave food residues in the cracks to form infectious inflammation and tingling; Repeated infection and inflammation, tongue swelling and hypertrophy, tooth marks will appear on the tongue edge; Long-term cracking of the tongue body may also lead to unbalanced nutrition of the tongue and atrophy and smoothness of the tongue surface. For some people with cleft tongue, it is recommended to avoid spicy food as much as possible; Pay attention to dietary balance, pay attention to water supply and vitamin intake, and take vitamin B 1, vitamin B2 and vitamin B complex orally when necessary; Regularly check the situation in the oral cavity, remove tartar and calculus in time, and remove the residual roots and crowns with extensive damage; Shallow cracks generally do not need to be treated. When the fracture is deep and the symptoms are obvious, surgery can be considered to remove the fracture and close it. It is very important to keep the oral cavity clean and hygienic. Rinse your mouth in time after meals, use anti-inflammatory mouthwash properly, and clean up the food residue and bacteria in the cleft tongue so that the food will not accumulate in the ditch, otherwise the repeatedly infected fissure will continue to deepen. Syndrome differentiation and treatment of traditional Chinese medicine should clear heart, purge heat, strengthen spleen and eliminate dampness, promote fluid production and enrich blood, and nourish yin and promote fluid production.