Glossitis can cause glossitis, which tends to be painful, smooth and shiny. Bacterial, viral or fungal infections can cause glossitis. "Candida" species are involved in median rhomboid glossitis. Syphilis is now relatively rare, but the tertiary stage can cause diffuse glossitis and atrophy of lingual papillae, termed "syphilitic glossitis", "luetic glossitis" or "atrophic glossitis of tertiary syphilis". It is caused by Treponema pallidum and is a sexually transmitted infection. Many conditions can cause glossitis via malnutrition or malabsorption, which creates the nutritional deficiencies described above, although other mechanisms may be involved in some of those conditions listed. A painful tongue may
The Canon of Medicine anatomy, and physiology. The book explains the causes of health and disease. Avicenna believed that the human body cannot be restored to health unless the causes of both health and disease are determined. He defined medicine ("tibb") as follows: Avicenna begins part one by dividing theoretical medicine and medical practice. He describes what he says are the "four causes" of illness, based on Aristotelian philosophy: The material cause, the efficient cause, the formal cause, and the final cause: Avicenna's thesis on the elements of the cosmos is described by Gruner as "the foundation of the whole "Canon"". Avicenna insists here