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
Social construction of the body Social construction of the body The social construction of the body is a hypothesis that affirms that the relationship between the body and the socio-cultural context occurs in both senses, and that society and culture influence the formation of its members to some extent. The body has become a social construction, in whose delimitation have participated multiple disciplines. Thus, medicine and religion can be mentioned as the agents that have traditionally influenced, together with the rules of urbanity and educational institutions. These four agents have been building a model, which every individual has as reference. According to Bryan S. Turner,