Effectiveness of mixture of aspirin and ethanol regimen in the management of geographic tongue: a prospective study.

UNLABELLED: Geographic tongue is usually an asymptomatic inflammatory disorder of the tongue; however, symptomatic cases do occur and require treatment. Several management strategies have been reported yet they are neither specific nor curative.

OBJECTIVE

The objective was to evaluate the effectiveness of an aspirin-ethanol mixture in the management of geographic tongue.

METHODS

In this prospective study, an analysis of medical reports of symptomatic cases of geographic tongue managed using an aspirin-ethanol mixture was done. The treatment regimen involved dissolving 3 mg of aspirin (acetylsalicylic acid) into 1 ml of 70% v/v ethanol. Then a sterile gauze is soaked in the prepared mixture and is topically used to clean the tongue with gentle pressure for 2-3 min.

RESULTS

The records of 23 patients were analyzed. There were more females (19, 82.6%), and the age range of patients was 15-43 years (mean age of 23.4 years). The symptoms that the patient described included: oral discomfort, burning sensations of the tongue, pain, and loss of taste. Only 21 (91.3%) patients were asymptomatic at 3 months of follow-up.

CONCLUSIONS

Short-term topical application of the aspirin-ethanol mixture was shown to be effective in treating symptomatic geographic tongue.