There is no unanimous opinion on the cause of cracked tongue in the academic community. It may be age-related, as aging of the body leads to a decrease in the ability of the tongue to absorb nutrients, resulting in metabolic disorders and cracks.
Some systemic diseases are often associated with cleft tongue, including congenital dysplasia, Down syndrome, nutritional deficiencies such as vitamin B2 (riboflavin) deficiency, infectious causes such as syphilitic tongue infection, and some rare diseases such as Melkersson-Rosenthal syndrome (May-Ro syndrome).
It is also associated with genetic factors and there are found high incidence family lines.