The Tongue as an Excitable Medium

Geographic tongue (GT) is a benign condition affecting approximately 2% of the population, whereby the papillae covering the upper part of the tongue are lost due to a slowly expanding inflammation. The resultant dynamical appearance of the tongue has striking similarities with well known phenomena observed in excitable media, such as forest fires, cardiac dynamics and chemically-driven reaction-diffusion systems. Here we explore the dynamics associated with GT from a dynamical systems perspective, utilizing cellular automata simulations. We emphasize similarities with other excitable systems as well as unique features observed in GT. Our results shed light on the evolution of the inflammation and contribute to the classification of the severity of the condition, based on the characteristic patterns observed in GT patients.