Tongue numbness, also known as paresthesia, describes sensations including tingling, prickling, or a complete absence of feeling. The tongue is a complex organ with numerous nerves and blood vessels that provide sensation and aid in functions like taste and speech. While often temporary and harmless, tongue numbness can signal an underlying health issue. Understanding its causes helps determine when it’s minor or requires medical evaluation.
Common Temporary Causes
Dental procedures often cause temporary tongue numbness. Local anesthetics, like lidocaine or articaine, are injected to block nerve signals and prevent pain. The numbing effect lasts a few hours, though extensive procedures like wisdom tooth extractions can cause numbness for eight to nine hours. Rarely, direct trauma to the lingual nerve from the needle or extraction can cause lingering numbness, which resolves within two weeks as nerves regenerate.
Minor injuries or trauma to the tongue also cause temporary numbness. Accidental biting, burns from hot food or drinks, or small cuts can irritate nerve endings. The tongue’s rich blood supply promotes quick healing, but injuries can temporarily disrupt nerve function, leading to numbness or tingling. These sensations fade as the injury heals, often within a few days to three weeks.
Reactions to certain oral irritants or foods can cause temporary numbness. Spicy or acidic foods can cause temporary tingling or burning. Some dental products, like certain mouthwashes, can also irritate oral tissues and cause fleeting numbness. These effects usually subside quickly once the irritant is removed.
Anxiety and panic attacks can cause physical symptoms, including tongue tingling or numbness. During intense stress, the body’s “fight-or-flight” response can lead to rapid breathing, known as hyperventilation. Hyperventilation reduces carbon dioxide levels, altering blood chemistry and causing tingling in the extremities and around the mouth, including the tongue. This numbness is temporary and resolves as anxiety subsides.
Nutritional Deficiencies and Allergic Reactions
Inadequate nutrient levels can impact nerve function, leading to tongue numbness. Vitamin B12 is important for healthy nerve cells and producing myelin, the protective sheath around nerves. A Vitamin B12 deficiency can cause neurological symptoms like “pins and needles,” numbness, and a sore or swollen tongue. This deficiency can also cause taste changes and nerve damage if left unaddressed.
Other mineral imbalances, like low calcium (hypocalcemia), can cause tingling around the mouth, including the tongue and lips. Calcium plays a role in nerve function; insufficient amounts can disrupt signal transmission. Addressing these deficiencies, often through diet or supplements, can alleviate tongue numbness.
Allergic reactions can also cause tongue numbness or tingling. Exposure to foods, medications, or environmental allergens can trigger an immune response resulting in swelling, itching, and tingling. For instance, oral allergy syndrome, linked to pollen allergies, can cause mouth tingling after consuming raw fruits, vegetables, or nuts. In severe cases, anaphylaxis can cause significant tongue swelling and difficulty breathing, requiring immediate medical attention.
Underlying Medical Conditions
Neurological conditions can impact tongue sensation. Migraine with aura, for example, can involve sensory disturbances like numbness and tingling of the lips and tongue, often on one side of the face. These sensory auras develop gradually over 5 to 20 minutes and resolve within 60 minutes, sometimes without a headache. The numbness may spread from the fingers or arm to the face and mouth.
A stroke or transient ischemic attack (TIA), a “mini-stroke,” can cause sudden numbness or weakness, often affecting one side of the body, including the face and tongue. These conditions occur when blood flow to the brain is interrupted, depriving brain cells of oxygen. A TIA serves as a warning sign for a future stroke, making prompt medical evaluation for sudden, unilateral numbness with other neurological deficits important.
Multiple Sclerosis (MS), an autoimmune condition, can lead to nerve damage in the brain and spinal cord, affecting sensation and motor function, including in the tongue. People with MS may experience numbness, tingling, burning, or weakness in tongue muscles, which can impair speech, chewing, and swallowing. These sensory changes are due to the immune system attacking myelin, the protective sheath around nerve fibers.
Bell’s Palsy, characterized by sudden facial muscle weakness or paralysis, can include sensory changes on the affected side. While primarily a motor nerve issue, some report numbness on the same side of the tongue as facial paralysis, along with taste loss. This condition improves within weeks to months, often due to facial nerve inflammation.
Trigeminal Neuralgia, a chronic pain disorder, causes severe, sharp, electric shock-like facial pain. Although pain is the main symptom, the trigeminal nerve’s proximity to the tongue means irritation or compression can lead to sensory changes, such as aching, burning, or tingling. These sensations can be triggered by simple actions like chewing or talking.
Systemic conditions like diabetes can also cause tongue numbness. Peripheral neuropathy, a common diabetes complication, results from high blood sugar damaging small blood vessels that supply nerves. This nerve damage can affect sensation in various body parts, including the tongue, leading to numbness, tingling, or burning. The risk of neuropathy increases with poorly controlled blood sugar and duration of diabetes.
Hypoglycemia, or low blood sugar, can cause rapid symptoms, including tingling or numbness in the lips, tongue, or cheeks. This occurs because the brain and nervous system rely on glucose for energy, and a significant drop can disrupt nerve function. Other symptoms include shakiness, dizziness, sweating, and confusion.
Infections like shingles (herpes zoster) can affect nerves and lead to oral symptoms. If the varicella-zoster virus reactivates in the trigeminal nerve, it can cause oral shingles, resulting in tingling, burning, pain, and blisters on the tongue or other mouth parts. Ramsay Hunt syndrome, a shingles complication affecting the facial nerve, can lead to facial paralysis and sometimes taste changes or loss on the affected side of the tongue.
Some medications can cause tongue numbness as a side effect. Drugs affecting the nervous system, including pain medications, antibiotics, or chemotherapy agents, can cause altered sensations like numbness or tingling in the mouth. If a new medication causes tongue numbness, discuss it with a healthcare provider.
When to Seek Medical Attention
While many instances of tongue numbness are benign and temporary, certain symptoms warrant prompt medical attention. Seek emergency care immediately if sudden tongue numbness is accompanied by weakness or numbness on one side of the body, difficulty speaking, facial drooping, vision changes, confusion, dizziness, or a severe headache. These symptoms can indicate a stroke or TIA, which are medical emergencies.
Consult a healthcare professional if tongue numbness is persistent, worsens, or recurs frequently without an obvious cause. Numbness that does not resolve within a few hours to a day, or significantly interferes with eating or speaking, should be evaluated.
Accompanying symptoms signaling a need for medical consultation include difficulty breathing, tongue or throat swelling, hives, or a rash, which could indicate a severe allergic reaction. If tongue numbness is experienced along with fever, unexplained weight loss, or other concerning systemic symptoms, a doctor should be seen for proper diagnosis and treatment.