An unhealthy tongue. If your tongue is a different colour than pink, or has large patches of white, brown, black, or another colour, this might indicate a specific health issue. Similarly, if you have large bumps or no bumps at all, you may also want to speak to a doctor.
Colors of an Unhealthy Tongue
Red - A red tongue can be caused by many things, such as inflammation, infection, a blood disease, an underlying heart condition, or vitamin B12 deficiency. Scarlet fever, eczema, and Kawasaki disease may also cause your tongue to turn red.
A healthy tongue is pink in color. If your tongue color is white, yellow, orange, red, black, purple, gray, green or blue, it could mean you have an underlying health condition. If you have tongue discoloration that doesn't go away, tell your healthcare provider.
Eating foods that contain probiotics, such as yogurt or kefir, can help to promote a healthy balance of bacteria in your mouth. Probiotics can help to reduce the growth of harmful bacteria and prevent the buildup of white film on your tongue.
A pink tongue is healthy and normal. A red tongue may indicate heat in the body like a fever or a hormonal imbalance. A reddish purple tongue is a sign that there may be inflammation or an infection in the body. A pale pink tongue may be a sign of a vitamin deficiency, a weak immune system or a lack of energy.
A white tongue is usually caused by a buildup of bacteria and dead cells on the surface of the tongue. Good oral hygiene, a healthy diet, and regular dental checkups will keep your tongue healthy. Sometimes a white tongue can be a sign of an underlying health problem or a medication side effect.
You certainly do. Fluoride toothpaste can clean your tongue just as effectively as cleaning your teeth. There are, however, specialty tongue brushes that exist to allow you to brush your tongue more thoroughly and reach all the way in the back, to boot.
Tongues thrive on the iron found in spinach, leafy greens, red meat, poultry, and seafood. Foods with anti-microbial properties such as chopped onions, shiitake mushrooms, garlic, coconuts, and ginger are helpful in fighting oral bacteria.
White tongue is the result of an overgrowth and swelling of the fingerlike projections (papillae) on the surface of your tongue. The appearance of a white coating is caused by debris, bacteria and dead cells getting lodged between the enlarged and sometimes inflamed papillae.
Drink plenty of water: Enough water helps keeping your tongue clean and gets rid of extra food particles. Eat crunchy fruits that cleanse the tongue naturally: Apples and guava are good examples of this. Eat raw vegetables: Raw vegetables, such as spinach, tomatoes, lettuce and peppers.
Avoid drinking milk based products such as coffee, milk tea or even soy milk which can also be the contributing factors to the white coating. Besides brushing your teeth 2 – 3 times a day, you should also floss and clean your tongue.
For the most part, your tongue can look white for benign reasons (maybe you're dehydrated or skipped a few brushings), but thicker white patches can also be a sign of infection or, in rare cases, mouth or oral cancer.
When this happens, the harsh ingredients in your toothpaste cause the cells lining the insides of your cheeks to slough off, and as they collect in your mouth, this creates the white, slimy, stringy stuff.
Oral Tongue Cancer
The lump often looks like an ulcer and is grayish-pink to red. The lump bleeds easily if bitten or touched.
In traditional medicine, purple/blue-ish tongue color indicates blood stasis [30] which is usually associated with stress and is consistent with our findings.
Signs of your body undergoing excessive stress can show up on your tongue as unusual redness, sores, and ulcers. Also, if your tongue appears to have marks around the edges, that could signify consistently biting your tongue as a reaction to stress.