Dr. Chris Aminarh Unpacks Lingua Plicata – A Tongue Condition You Might Have

Jephthah Nana Adjei Osei - Mensah
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Dr. Chris Aminarh Unpacks Lingua Plicata – A Tongue Condition You Might Have
Dr. Chris Aminarh
Next time you’re brushing your teeth, take a quick peek at your tongue—you might spot something wilder than you’d expect. On 3Music TV’s Big Conversation, Dr. Chris Aminarh pulled back the curtain on a tongue condition called lingua plicata, or geographic tongue if you’re feeling fancy. Never heard of it? Don’t worry, most haven’t. But here’s the kicker: about 6.8% of us have it, and if you’re over 40, that number could jump as high as 40%. Yep, it might already be chilling in your mouth right now.
Dr. Aminarh, calm and clear as ever, walked everyone through it. “It’s got this furrowed, almost map-like look,” he explained, painting a picture of a tongue crisscrossed with little grooves and gullies. Some call it scrotal tongue—not the prettiest name, but it sticks. The good news? “It’s totally harmless,” he said, putting any freak-outs to rest. “It’s not catching, it doesn’t mess with your taste buds—most people don’t even know they’ve got it.” Still, it’s not exactly rare, and seeing it laid out like that on TV made you wonder what else we’re missing about our own bodies.
So what’s behind it? That’s where things get fuzzy. “We don’t have the full story yet,” Dr. Aminarh admitted. “Genes might play a part—could be something you inherit.” He mentioned it’s tied to bigger stuff sometimes, like Melkersson-Rosenthal syndrome or Down syndrome, but for the average person, it’s just a quirky trait. Those grooves can trap bits of food, and if you’re not on top of your brushing game, hello bad breath. “It’s not a big deal unless you let it fester,” he said with a slight chuckle, like he’s seen it all before.
His advice was straight to the point: step up your tongue game. “Brush it—really get in there,” he urged. “Mouthwash helps, too.” And if you’re one of those folks who feels a little burn when you eat spicy jollof or sip something acidic? Maybe ease off for a bit. “It’s not common, but it happens,” he noted. What stuck with everyone, though, was how he turned something small into a wake-up call. “We don’t give our tongues enough credit,” he said, leaning into the mic like he was letting us in on a secret. “It’s out here breaking down food with saliva, healing itself when we bite it, showing us clues about our health—and we barely notice.”
Dr. Aminarh didn’t just drop facts; he made it real. He talked about how saliva’s this unsung hero, kicking off digestion before food even hits your stomach, and how the tongue’s tougher than we think—bouncing back from burns or scrapes like it’s no big deal. By the end, you couldn’t help but feel a little curious about your own mouth. Lingua plicata might not be a household name yet, but after this, plenty of people are probably sneaking a mirror check. So tomorrow morning, when you’re scrubbing away, give your tongue a once-over, it’s telling you more than you might realize.

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