Coated tongue is important in visual diagnosis as a symptom of systemic conditions and disorders. Above all, relations between tongue coating and digestive tract disorders as an attachment factor have been discussed for a long time. However, such relations have not yet been elucidated.
The authors have classified the degree of attachment of tongue coating into the four degrees; 1, 2, 3, and 4. Using the classification, the authors surveyed and reviewed the actual situation of tongue coating in patients with digestive tract disorders observed by endoscopy.
The rate of tongue coating was 1.69% in healthy patients, and 53.8% in patients with digestive tract disorders. Thus, there was a remarkable difference in the rate of tongue coating between the two groups of patients, although few patients were conscious of tongue coating.
By the disordered site of digestive tract, the rate of tongue coating increased in the order of gastric, duodenal and gastroduodenal disorders, while, to the contrary, the degree of tongue attachment decreased in the above order. By disorder, the rate of tongue coating in gastric and duodenal ulcers was higher than in atrophic and erosive gastritises.
These results suggest that digestive tract disorders are an important factor in tongue coating.
