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Risk factors
By Mayo Clinic staffStudies of factors that may be associated with an increased risk of geographic tongue have produced mixed results.
Factors that are likely associated with an increased risk include:
- Family history. Some people with geographic tongue have a family history of the disorder, so inherited genetic factors may increase risk.
- Fissured tongue. People with geographic tongue often have another disorder called fissured tongue, the appearance of deep fissures, or grooves, on the surface of the tongue.
References
- Usatine RP, et al. The Color Atlas of Family Medicine. New York, N.Y.: The McGraw-Hill Companies; 2009. http://www.accessmedicine.com/resourceTOC.aspx?resourceID=678. Accessed April 24, 2013.
- Reamy BV, et al. Common tongue conditions in primary care. American Family Physician. 2010;81:627.
- AskMayoExpert. Geographic tongue. Rochester, Minn.: Mayo Foundation for Medical Education and Research; 2013.
- Miloglu O, et al. The prevalence and risk factors associated with benign migratory glossitis lesions in 7619 Turkish dental outpatients. Oral surgery, oral medicine, oral pathology, oral radiology, and endodontics. 2009;107:e29.
- Honarmand M, et al. Geographic tongue and associated risk factors among Iranian dental patients. Iranian Journal of Public Health. 2013;42:215.
- Picciani B, et al. Geographic stomatitis: An oral manifestation of psoriasis? Journal of Dermatological Case Reports. 2012;6:113.
- Sheridan PJ (expert opinion). Mayo Clinic, Rochester, Minn. May 15, 2013.
- Salinas TJ (expert opinion). Mayo Clinic, Rochester, Minn. June 11, 2013.
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