# I've got a white tongue! **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [August 31, 2000, 2:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ive-got-a-white-tongue/31488 "2000-08-31T14:19:41Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 13\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Teach](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/47e85d/32.png) [@Teach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Teach)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2000, 2:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ive-got-a-white-tongue/31488/1 "2000-08-31T14:19:41Z")
This has been a source of stress for many years. Why do I always have a white patina on my tongue?! I can scrape it off with extensive toothbrush action, but it always comes back. My doctor has prescribed anti-fungal lozenges, but they haven’t really helped. Does anyone else have a similar problem? ---
**Author:** ![Turpentine](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ecd19e/32.png) [@Turpentine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Turpentine)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2000, 2:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ive-got-a-white-tongue/31488/2 "2000-08-31T14:21:54Z")
Are you a mouth-breather, by any chance? ---
**Author:** ![xizor](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/xizor/32/102_2.png) [@xizor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/xizor)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2000, 2:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ive-got-a-white-tongue/31488/3 "2000-08-31T14:26:25Z")
Lay off the Vodka & Bleach mixed drinks. ---
**Author:** ![Teach](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/47e85d/32.png) [@Teach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Teach)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2000, 2:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ive-got-a-white-tongue/31488/4 "2000-08-31T14:33:09Z")
Turpentine: I’m not sure what it means to be a mouth breather, but I do snore loud enough to wake the neighbors. Is there a connection? ---
**Author:** ![Teach](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/47e85d/32.png) [@Teach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Teach)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2000, 2:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ive-got-a-white-tongue/31488/5 "2000-08-31T14:37:05Z")
xizor: I have a feeling bleach would do me a lot of good. It would probably kill off those candida, who I suspect are the source of my problem. ---
**Author:** ![Teach](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/47e85d/32.png) [@Teach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Teach)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2000, 2:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ive-got-a-white-tongue/31488/6 "2000-08-31T14:41:25Z")
Now that I think of it, Turpentine might be a good way to get rid of it. ---
**Author:** ![CnoteChris](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/278dde/32.png) [@CnoteChris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CnoteChris)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2000, 2:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ive-got-a-white-tongue/31488/7 "2000-08-31T14:54:55Z")
Actually, xisor may not be that far off. Do you drink a couple before hitting the hay? I only noticed myself after drinking the night before. It really doesn’t matter how much I drink, either. If I don’t drink, nothing that isn’t washed away with a pop, water, or after that morning brush. If I do, paste city. Looks pretty disgusting if you ask me. ---
**Author:** ![Teach](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/47e85d/32.png) [@Teach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Teach)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2000, 3:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ive-got-a-white-tongue/31488/8 "2000-08-31T15:02:31Z")
Yeah, CnoteChris, you’re probably right about the alcohol connection. I usually get the white tounge while drinking. Beer does it more than anything. When I’m drinking only red wine, however, that white tongue mysteriously turns to black. ---
**Author:** ![Teach](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/47e85d/32.png) [@Teach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Teach)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2000, 3:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ive-got-a-white-tongue/31488/9 "2000-08-31T15:05:40Z")
I really should try to use smilies, but y’all know I meant to include one at the end of that last post, right? I just can’t be bothered. ---
**Author:** ![fierra](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/58956e/32.png) [@fierra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fierra)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2000, 3:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ive-got-a-white-tongue/31488/10 "2000-08-31T15:11:01Z")
candida only gives little white dots on the tongue where the colonies are, not an all-over white layer (says the science geek…) & regularly sucking anti-fungal lozenges will kill of the good fungi (part of the natural flora of your sking/mouth/wherever there is a surface in the body) which tend to out-compete things like candida most of the time & keep them at bay (the lozenges may also harm ones lower in your digestive tract and you definitely don’t want todo that!). Black tongue - you sure you’renot drinking vodka? 😜 ---
**Author:** ![Teach](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/47e85d/32.png) [@Teach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Teach)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2000, 3:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ive-got-a-white-tongue/31488/11 "2000-08-31T15:21:31Z")
fierra: Thanks for the reassurance about candida. I hate to think of carrying around a yeast infection in my mouth. The black tongue thing was, of course, an exaggeration. But then just try to drink a bottle of Ravenswood Zinfandel and tell me you don’t have a tongue that looks almost black. ---
**Author:** ![Atrael](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/6a8cbe/32.png) [@Atrael](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Atrael)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2000, 3:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ive-got-a-white-tongue/31488/12 "2000-08-31T15:29:43Z")
When I was getting a check up once, the doctor told me that the coating was due to lack of vitamins in my diet. I got a good “one a day” time pill, and it actually help clear it up…just my 2cents. ---
**Author:** ![Teach](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/47e85d/32.png) [@Teach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Teach)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2000, 3:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ive-got-a-white-tongue/31488/13 "2000-08-31T15:44:38Z")
Thanks, Atreal. I know my diet sucks. I’m just happy to know that there might be some explanation for my white tongue other than HIV infection, which I know I don’t have but still worry about like a mad hypochondriac.