A sore tongue could be attributable to a number of causes. For instance, it could be on account of accidentally biting a part of your tongue. This is also common while sleeping as one might inadvertently graze one's tongue. In such cases, it might be best to let nature run its course and let the tongue heal on its own. There are other explanations for the same such as thrush. One also has to pay attention to the kind of soreness involving the tongue. Soreness or pain involving the entire length of the tongue, for instance, is one that mandates medical advice. Your doctor should be able to look at the inflamed area in order to check for the condition known as glossitis. This effectively means an inflammation of this muscle which can be brought on by factors such as vitamin deficiency or possibly due to an allergy. There is also the added symptom of a bad tooth which could complicate things.
One has to remember that the sore tongue could mean that regular home remedies for a bad tooth, such as clove oil, become ineffective. Rather, remedies like clove oil could adversely affect the sore tongue. This is because clove oil is known to be extremely strong and it can cause a burning sensation. This would be extremely unpleasant considering that your tongue is already sore. Furthermore, if you do not know what has caused the soreness in the tongue in the first place it becomes important to attend to that first. A doctor should be able to look at the tongue and tooth and give you a better idea of what the problem is. One should never blindly opt for medication such as antibiotics without delving into the root of the problem. One should not use a bad tooth as a reason to put off regular dental care. In fact proper dental hygiene becomes all the more vital to avoid spread of infection in case of tooth trouble. For most cases of sore tongues brought on by vitamin deficiency, the course of treatment would involve getting vitamin B although there could be other kinds of vitamin deficiencies or even mineral deficiency. It would obviously be best to keep spicy or sour food away for a while. The same goes for food which is hot since this can aggravate a sore tongue. Do call your doctor before proceeding with general sore tongue and tooth treatments.
answered by M W