Numb Burning Tingling Tounge

[soozanna]

Thank you for answering my ?.I am a 44 yo female.About 1 1/2 wks ago it seemed as if I had something caught in my upper back teeth, right side.A few days later the tip of my tounge felt as if it had a hair on it I could not remove. Now the entire right side of my tounge is numb,burning&tingling. My upper right lip and part of the right side of my face feels slightly numb. My tounge appears to be swollen and it does have a white coating.Food feels strange in my mouth and not a lot of taste.I seem to have an extra amount of saliva and it I am swallowing a lot more than usual. Any suggestions what it might be and what sort of doctor I should see? Thank you so much.

[maryheather]

"Burning tongue" is a weird diagnosis, and some docs don't recognize it at all.  
The standard treatment is klonopin, but be careful with this class of drugs, b/c it is habit forming.  Benzo's as a whole can be very addictive.
If it is indeed burning tongue, you should try to locate a medical research center near you...I had to go to an "oral pathologist" to diagnose me.  Won't hurt to print out some of the info you find on the net, in case your doc hasn't heard of this before.

[soozanna]

Thanks Mary Heather.  I saw my dentist this afternoon just to rule out any dental problems.  He could not find any problems and suggested that I wait a few weeks and find a neurosurgeon if the problem worsens or persists.  I'm not one to wait around especially on a bizarre set of symptoms like this.
I did google the names that you suggested.  Burning tounge syndrome does seem to fit best of all.
And don't worry, I will persist until I get an answer.
Thanks again!

[maryheather]

You can google the following things:

Geographic tongue
Burning tongue syndrome
Thrush

The facial issue...could be Bells Palsy...a temporary condition.  Just look up those things and see which might fit your symptoms.  I have "burning tongue syndrome" and went on a search for a doc.  First there was an ENT, then an Oral Pathologist.  Good luck.  It's a strange set of symptoms, so don't let anyone give you the run around.  You know your body, so don't give up.