burning tongue in patients with geographic and grooved tongue: a study on secondary school students.

this study was conducted on the secondary school students by actively patient selection method it means that patients did not go to see the doctor themselves. the studies were randomly selected among the schools located in areas of average socioeconomic status. although geographic and fissured tongue disorders with no discomfort and with clinical sign are common phenomena, they are detected and diagnosed in clinical and collective examinations. people recognition and awareness about them and what they should do when they occur with syndromal signs are important. patients usually complain of pain and irritation of the tongue specially during eating spicy and sour food, because the bare part of tongue cannot tolerate the direct contact with such foods. this chronic irritation may cause the fear of cancer (cancerophobia) in patients. it should be pointed out that geographic tongue can be caused by known skin diseases like psoriasis or might be manifested as an allergic reaction to medicines like lithium. in this study we evaluated the relationship between grooved and geographic tongue and age, race, skin color, frequency of brushing, gum status, discomfort of tongue irritation and mouth breathing habit.