What Does it Mean When Your Tongue Turns White?

When your tongue is white, something is not right. Instrumental to speech, taste, and preparing food for digestion, the tongue is forever bending to our will and making things happen in our mouths. It hasn’t the time to pale or go ghostly — and if it is, we need to take a beat and find the root cause.

Side-stepping from our usual fare of general dental information, we’re going to discuss what it means when your tongue loses its colour. We’ll also advise how you can restore a rosy-red glow to your tongue once more.

Does a White Tongue Mean Dehydration?

While dehydration can manifest as tongue whiteness, there are also many other causes that could be turning your tongue pale. These include:

• Poor oral hygiene
• Dry mouth
• Smoking or other oral tobacco use
• Excessive alcohol use
• Mouth breathing
• Eating a low-roughage diet (i.e. mostly soft or mashed foods)
• Mechanical irritation from sharp tooth edges or dental appliances
• Fever.

Aside from fever, there are other conditions associated with white patches or discolourations of the tongue — a classic example being the use of certain medications. For instance, prolonged antibiotic use can cause an oral yeast infection, which can cause a white tongue.

What Actually Causes a Tongue To Turn White?

It’s all well and good to ask what a white tongue is trying to tell us, but let’s flip the question on its head: what causes whiteness in the first place?

Put simply, a 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.

Hence, it checks out that lifestyle factors such as poor oral hygiene or tobacco use would cause papillae hypertrophy or inflammation.

What Colour Is a Healthy Tongue?

A pink tongue is a healthy tongue! As well as being a pink colour, your tongue should also have a slightly rough texture due to the presence of those small nodules called papillae.

Other signs of a healthy tongue include a moist disposition without being saturated. Tongues should also present symmetrically, without swelling or being unusually shaped.

Of course, a healthy tongue is completely free of sores, ulcers, or unusual patches.

Things You Can Do if You Have a Sore or White Tongue

All’s not lost if your tongue’s lost its lustre. Here are some ways to breathe colour and life back into your poor, sore tongue:

Maintain or up Your Oral Hygiene Game

When you’re feeling down in the mouth, good oral hygiene should always be your first port of call.

If you’re not brushing your teeth at least twice a day, get on that.

If you’re not flossing, you should definitely incorporate that into your home care routine.

Finally, seeing as the tongue is the problem, you should ensure you clean it every day. Use a tongue scraper — unless it’s the source of mechanical irritation contributing to the tongue whiteness. Otherwise, find a toothbrush with a textured tongue cleaner on the back of the head and scrub, scrub, scrub!

Stay Hydrated

Drinking plenty of water keeps the mouth moist, which can be the antidote to a white coating on the tongue.

Rinse & Repeat

Sometimes, regular rinsing can cleanse the mouth of bacteria and reduce inflammation. Prepare a cup of warm, salty water and use it to rinse your mouth — repeat several times throughout the day. Antiseptic mouthwash can also fast-track bacteria elimination.

Adjust Your Diet

When you’re nursing your tongue back to health, it can pay to avoid irritants such as spicy, acidic, or hot foods and beverages. You should also eat a balanced diet rich in vitamins and minerals, which will give your immune system a fighting chance to combat your condition.

Consider Over-the-Counter Remedies

If your tongue becomes sore to the point of distraction, you can always pop some pain relief medications, such as paracetamol or ibuprofen. When taking any sort of pain relief, ensure you’re following the directions detailed inside or on the packaging.

Quit Smoking & Go Easy on Alcohol

Smoking can irritate the tongue and mouth and contribute to the white coating. If you’re a tobacco user with a white tongue, quitting all tobacco products is your go-to solution.

Alcohol can also dry out your mouth and worsen tongue issues, so it’s best to avoid that too if you’re trying to rehydrate your mouth.

Visit Langmore Dental

Has your tongue been pale for over a week? There’s never been a better time to visit Langmore Dental: the dentist Berwick trusts. We can get to the bottom of what’s got your tongue white.

Let’s Catch Up!

A white tongue does not a healthy mouth make. If anything other than teeth — or perhaps white fillings — are presenting as white, you need to get that looked at! Book your appointment with Langmore Dental today.