The Swollen Taste Bud
Nearly everyone has had swollen taste buds from time to time and wondered if they should be worried. It’s actually a very common problem and not usually serious. The taste bud may be inflamed, irritated, sore, enlarged or painful.
More often than not the taste buds (which are found on the papillae) will look swollen because they are irritated. Inflamed and irritated taste buds can be caused by a number of different things.
Spicy hot food may taste good, but your tongue can react badly if you eat them too much. It’s a common misconception that people “get used” to spicy foods. The fact is that they feel less over time only because their taste buds have been damaged. If spicy hot food is eaten frequently, over many years the sense of taste can be severely affected. Since the ability to taste tends to drop off with age anyway, it’s best to avoid the hot food and save your taste buds as much as you can – you’ll arrive at old age with more of your taste buds in proper working order.
Spicy foods are not the only culprit though. Using too much salt can also cause inflamed or enlarged taste buds. Salt may taste good to us, but our tongue really doesn’t like to be exposed to too much of it. Salty foods like potato chips – especially salt and vinegar chips – can really irritate taste buds. Similarly, eating very acidic foods such as lemons or grapefruit can also irritate your tongue. Some sauces can be very acidic as well so be careful about overdoing it with them.
Other things that can cause swollen taste buds include exposure to toxins and chemical irritants. Alcohol, tobacco, smoke and insecticides fall into this category so it’s best to avoid them if you are having issues with your taste buds. Even if your taste buds are not swollen from using these substances, you should be aware that they will affect your sense of taste. That’s one of the reasons that smokers find they gain weight after they quit smoking – their sense of taste improves substantially and they eat more!
If you have ruled out food as the cause of your swollen taste buds there are some other possible causes. Allergies to certain foods and other health problems such acid reflux disease, thrush or any yeast infection can also cause swollen or inflamed taste buds when associated with tongue or mouth ulcers. Vitamin B deficiency has also been found to cause tongue swelling.
The key to treating your swollen taste buds is to figure out the cause. Obviously, if spicy, salty or acidic food is the culprit stop eating it and apply ice. You can also try eating ice cream or yogurt to help with irritated swollen taste buds from food. Yogurt is said to be helpful for yeast infections in the mouth (thrush) because its active ingredients help re-balance the good and bad bacteria that live in our digestive system.
If you’ve eliminated the obvious possible cause, then it may be time for a trip to the doctor to check for allergies, infections or vitamin deficiencies.
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