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Complete atrophic glossitis

Complete atrophic glossitis in a 46-year-old woman with the chief complaint of glossodynia for approximately 1 year. She denied any systemic diseases. Her serum levels of vitamin B12 and ferritin were 94 ng/L (normal range 180 to 914 ng/L) and 4.3 ng/mL (normal range 11.0–306.8 ng/mL), respectively. She was diagnosed with anemia based on a hemoglobin level of 10.8 g/dL (the cutoff value for a female is 11 g/dL). (A) Physical examination revealed complete tongue atrophy, with a glossy appearance. (B) Complete resolution after 1 month of supplement therapy. (C) The therapeutic effect was still evident during follow-up at 6 months. (Source: Chen GY, Tang ZQ, Bao ZX. Vitamin B12 deficiency may play an etiological role in atrophic glossitis and its grading: a clinical case-control study. BMC Oral Health 2022;22[1]:456. Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International [CC BY 4.0] license, creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0.)

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