Cracked tongue refers to groove cracks with different depths and lengths on the tongue surface, also known as slotted tongue. Once, a patient looked in the mirror because of his tongue pain and found that his cracked tongue was as deep as a ravine. He was very scared, so he went to the stomatology department for treatment. He was told that the sore tongue was caused by bacteria multiplying in tiny cracks, and the tongue mucosa was stimulated and infected. Because the cause of cracked tongue is not clear, I just told him to use light salt water or anti-inflammatory mouthwash frequently to prevent infection.

When the patient came to our hospital for treatment, he saw a "Sichuan"-shaped cracked tongue, red tongue with little fur, accompanied by dry mouth, irritability, constipation and other symptoms, which belonged to the symptoms of deficiency of stomach yin and internal disturbance of deficiency fire in traditional Chinese medicine. After being treated with Dendrobium, Ophiopogon japonicus, Adenophora adenophora and other drugs, the symptoms are obviously improved, and the tongue coating is thin and white, but cracks always exist, indicating that the tongue is the essence of disease. Tongue coating is a manifestation of the depth of pathogenic factors, which changes rapidly.

Chinese medicine attaches great importance to the tongue picture and carefully observes the tongue line. The book "Guide to Tongue Patterns" points out that "even people's tongues are not tattooed, and those with stripes are weak", and those with few and shallow stripes are weak, and those with deep stripes are very weak. It is generally believed that tongue stripes are caused by body yin deficiency, and tongue stripes such as borneol are common signs of yin deficiency in the elderly; Cracks, such as herringbone, Sichuan character, stubborn character, fissure, etc., are mostly signs of gastric juice drying up and excess heat being forced inside; The fine lines and pale white tongue are full of the image of spleen and stomach soaking; The tongue is crimson, with broken edges, blood stains and pain, which are the manifestations of yin deficiency and carditis. In many years of clinical work, the author found that the light and shallow tongue belongs to the lack of positive energy, but it is not very good. After dialectical treatment, it can be cured or obviously improved. However, some patients have liver cancer, gallbladder cancer, gastric cancer, schizophrenia and so on. There is an obvious cleft tongue, which belongs to the deficiency of vital qi. In short, the more lines, the deeper and more complicated the disease, and the more difficult it is to treat. Once cleft tongue is found, relevant examination should be done to exclude organic lesions; For those who have not found organic lesions, they should also take traditional Chinese medicine or dietotherapy, and treat them according to syndrome differentiation, so as to prevent problems before they happen.