Geographic tongue: Predisposing factors, diagnosis and treatment. A systematic review

Introduction: Geographic tongue (GT) is a lesion of unknown origin associated with systemic diseases and therefore involves multidisciplinary care.

Methods: We performed a literature search of the PubMed, EMBASE, Web of Science and Cochrane databases. The selection criteria were consistent with the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews protocol. We considered as inclusion criteria journal articles designed on cases of cohorts, cross-sectional studies, cases and controls and randomised clinical trials in the pathogenic, clinical and therapeutic context.

Results: A total of 33 articles met these criteria. We analysed 4998 patients with GT, with an age range of 0 to 85 years, and the burning sensation symptom was present in 9.2-47% of these patients. The GT diagnosis was clinical in 98.81% of the cases, and GT displayed an association with psoriasis, allergies and anxiety. Candida infection was present in 7.6% (24/315) of the cases, and the presence of caries was statistically significant. The only analysed clinical trial proposed treatment through the topical application of 0.1% triamcinolone acetonide combined or not with 0.05% retinoic acid.

Conclusions: The diagnosis of GT is mainly clinical. GT is an asymptomatic disorder that usually requires no treatment. Understanding GT is necessary due to the comorbid intraoral and extraoral diseases that accompany the condition.