Study of the Relations between Inflammatory Condition of Geographic Tongue and Allergy

Geographic tongue is usually an asymptomatic inflammatory disorder of unknown etiology that affects the epithelium of the tongue. The cause of the disease remains obscure. Patients with an allergic background such as a personal of family history of asthma, eczema, and hay fever, of an elevated total serum immunoglobulin E level may be more likely to have a geographic tongue. The purpose of this work is to determine the relations between geographic tongue and allergy in students at Kerman University of Medical Sciences in 2005. In this research, 837 students in Medical Sciences University of Kerman were examined. Data collection were obtained by completing the related forms after oral examination and these data were analyzed by statistical program SPSS 13.5, t- test and χ ² test. From 837 persons (505 Female and 332 male), 104 cases (12.44%) had geographic tongue. From these 104 cases, 68 cases mentioned the allergy history such that the relation between allergy and geographic tongue was significant. The prevalence of asthma and allergic rhinitis in first degree relatives of geographic tongue patients was significantly higher than those of without geographic tongue. There was significant association between geographic tongue and some food, especially eggplant, walnut and tomato. In this study, the allergic factors were mentioned by greater than 50% of all persons with geographic tongue, which confirms the relation between this lesion and allergic phenomena.