What are lie bumps on the tongue, and how do I get rid of them?

Your tongue is covered in papillae. The ones involved in lie bumps are the fungiform papillae, small mushroom-shaped bumps that hold taste buds and are concentrated toward the tip and sides. Normally they are flat and pink and you barely notice them. When one gets irritated it swells into a raised red, white or yellowish dot that can feel sharp or burning, especially when it rubs your teeth or meets salty food.

The name comes from an old superstition that telling a lie gives you a bump on the tongue. Cleveland Clinic and DermNet both use the medical term transient lingual papillitis, which simply means short-lived inflammation of the tongue's papillae.

They are very common. In the study that first named the condition, 56% of 163 staff at a dental school reported having had them, and DermNet notes the classic form seems most common in young women, though anyone can get them.

The classic form is what most people mean by a lie bump: a single sore dot you keep finding with your tongue.

There is no single cause. A review of 11 cases in the Journal of Clinical and Experimental Dentistry could not pin a specific trigger on any of them. The things most often linked to flare-ups, according to Cleveland Clinic and DermNet, are:

• Local irritation or trauma: biting the tongue, rubbing it on a sharp tooth or brace, or very hot food and drink
• Foods: spicy, acidic (citrus, vinegar) and very sugary foods; one published case followed a cinnamon and chili hard candy
• Stress and hormonal changes
• Viral infections, especially for the eruptive form in children
• Food allergies or atopic conditions such as eczema
• Oral products: some toothpastes, mouthwashes and whitening treatments

Repeat episodes are common. If yours keep coming back, note what you ate, what products you used, and how stressed you were in the day or two before each one.

Most are short. DermNet describes the classic bump as lasting 1 to 2 days, and the Greek case review found symptoms usually ease within hours to 4 days, with the swollen papillae gone in 3 to 10 days. When the whole tongue surface is inflamed at the same time, symptoms can drag on for 1 to 3 weeks. The eruptive form in children lasts about a week on average.

Cleveland Clinic advises seeing a healthcare provider about any change in your tongue or mouth that has not gone away after two weeks. At that point it is less likely to be a lie bump and more likely to be something else that should be identified.

There is no treatment proven to make lie bumps disappear faster. DermNet notes that many people find nothing changes how long they last. What you can do is make the next day or two more comfortable:

• Leave it alone. Cleveland Clinic is direct about this: lie bumps can look like tongue pimples, but they are part of your tongue, not trapped pus, and should not be popped or scraped off.
• Cool it. Cold water, ice chips, yogurt or a popsicle soothe the burning.
• Rinse with warm salt water a few times a day.
• Avoid triggers until it settles: spicy food, citrus, vinegar, sour or very sugary candy, and very hot drinks.
• Over-the-counter pain relief can help if it is very sore. Follow the label.
• Go easy on tongue cleaning. Scraping directly over an inflamed papilla keeps it irritated. Clean around it gently, or skip the scraper for a few days and restart once the bump is gone.