Thermal Imaging of Tongue Surface as a Prognostic Method in the Diagnosis of General Diseases—Preliminary Study

Abstract

The aim of this work was to develop an original method of thermographic measurement of tongue temperature as a prognostic method in the diagnosis of general diseases. This study examined the temperature distribution on the dorsal and apical surfaces of the tongue in patients with various general diseases and introduced a procedure for cooling the oral cavity. Patients with a high risk of systemic infections were referred to the Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery Outpatient Clinic of the Medical University of Silesia (SUM) in Katowice to identify potential foci of dental infections. They underwent an evaluation of their dentition as well as a prognostic tongue examination using the thermal camera FLIR T540 with a sensitivity of <0.03 K. The obtained results revealed statistically significant differences in the tongue average temperature parameters between the two study groups—healthy patients and patients with disorders. We obtained median temperatures for tongue dorsum (TD) of 35.8 °C and 35.2 °C for healthy patients and patients with disorders, respectively. Also, statistical differences have been obtained for tongue apex (TA) average temperatures. They were 35.5 °C and 34.0 °C for healthy and patients, respectively (p = 0.0001). Similar statistical results presented significant differences in the temperature difference (defined as DT = average temperature 10 min − average temperature 2 min after rinsing of the mouth) of the examined areas of the tongue between the healthy temperature and the unhealthy patient’s temperature. It seems that thermal imaging has potential in the prevention and diagnosis of general diseases.