Like the other parts of your body, you may take your tongue for granted until you experience unusual changes in its appearance or painful conditions. Your tongue provides a variety of necessary functions throughout the day, helping you ingest food and communicate with others. Bumps on the sides of your tongue may restrict your ability to enjoy your normal oral activities.
Function
Rather than a single muscle, your tongue contains many groups of muscles that work together to perform certain movements and functions. Your tongue helps you form words and moves your food between your teeth for chewing and back towards your throat for swallowing.
Significance
Bumps on the sides of your tongue can indicate the presence of disorder affecting just your tongue or your entire mouth. While common tongue bumps seldom signal serious reasons for concern, they can cause considerable pain and discomfort, even to the point of affecting your ability to eat.
Symptoms
Bumps or thickened areas of skin may appear only on one side of your tongue or across the entire surface. You may notice raised patches of bumps, as well as the appearance of white lines. Depending on the cause of your bumps, you may notice redness and discomfort.
Causes
Small, painful bumps can appear on the top surface or upper sides of your tongue, due to inflamed papillae, the tiny raised spots by your taste buds. An accidental bite may also cause temporary swelling and pain along one side of your tongue. An abnormal immune reaction, lichen planus, may cause areas of inflammation on your wrists, lower back and ankles. This condition can also affect the sides of your tongue, beginning as bumps that progress to form painless white streaks. Mouth cancer can also form a lump or area of thickened skin on the side of your tongue.
Treatments
The best treatment for bumps on the side of your tongue depends on the underlying cause of this oral condition. Inflamed papillae and lichen planus may heal on their own, or your doctor may prescribe antibiotics or oral antifungal agents. Consult your doctor for any lump inside your mouth, including along the sides of your tongue that lasts longer than two weeks or causes considerable pain. Your doctor may order laboratory tests to help determine the cause of your condition and rule out the possibility of mouth cancer.
