Why do tongue deposits form and cause bad breath?

Question

Hello doctor,

I have a white-coated tongue for the past eight or nine months. When I clean it in the morning, it goes away slightly but after sometime when I eat something, it comes back again. Especially when I drink something like milk, it gets deposited on my tongue layer. It also causes bad breath, but I do not experience any pain in my tongue.

Kindly help.

Answer 1

Hello,

Welcome to icliniq.com.

Coated tongue is very common. The tongue has papillae of many kinds that sense the taste and the skin of the tongue is quite rough so it is natural to get a coated tongue whenever you eat or drink. The best example is getting an orange tongue when eating an orange ice cream. Same works for food. So nothing to worry about. We all have the same coated tongue after having a meal. It is not a fungal thing or else there would be a burning sensation.

Just use a tongue scraper every time you brush.
Brush twice a day.
Rinse whenever you eat.
Avoid sticky or sweet food.
Use mild mouthwash containing Potassium nitrate. Stop after two weeks. Start again later if needed. Prolong use of mouthwash can cause staining of teeth.
Use sugar free chewing gums.

I hope this helps.

Thank you.