Year : 2022

Volume : Volume 13

Issue : Issue 3

Address for correspondence :
Dr. Jyoti Tahasildar,
jyothi.talwar@gmail.com

Abstract

Background: The classical manifestations of COVID-19 infection such as loss of smell, loss of taste, fever, myalgia, and other flu like symptoms have been extensively studied in the literature. However, oral manifestations have been ignored due to lack of proper examination of the oral cavity for the fear of transmission. Hence, in this study, we tried to explore the possible association of tongue changes, namely,
fissured tongue (FT), depapillated tongue, tongue with fissures and depapillation against flu-like symptoms, and antibiotic regimen in patients with mild COVID-19 disease. Materials and Methods: This cross-sectional and observational study included 70 PCR-confirmed COVID-19-infected patients. Tongue images obtained from all patients. Each picture was analyzed to label the tongue as follows: (1) Normal tongue, (2) FT, (3) erythematous depapillated tongue, and (4) depapillation with fissures, on the dorsal surface of tongue by two dental experts independently. Inferential statistics like Chi-square test was applied for qualitative variables to find the association. The level of significance is set at 5%. Results: The depapillated variety showed a significant association with the classical symptoms of COVID-19 disease (fever, loss of smell, and loss of taste). Cough, antibiotic treatment, and age did not influence the incidence of tongue lesions in these patients. Conclusion: Based on our studies, we suggest that depapillated tongue should be included in spectrum of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 infection.

Keywords: COVID-19, Depapillated tongue, Fissured tongue, Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2, Oral manifestations, Autoimmune.