The tongue helps us to taste and enjoy the food we eat. Mixing of food with saliva is the first part of the digestion process. Some people have a white coating over their tongue surface with red spots all over. Without knowing the reason for its occurrence many people have the habit of scraping it off using tongue cleaner the first thing in the morning after brushing their teeth. This can leads to wounds, pain, irritation and swelling of the tongue. In this article, we will look into reasons for this white coating and how it can be treated.
Ordinary White Coating
This is caused due to a bacteria called Debris, it happens because of the presence of dead cells over the tongue surface. Debris is an ordinary bacteria. Scraping off the tongue surface with the rough backside of the toothbrush should be enough to get rid of it.
Oral Thrush
Red spots on the tongue occur because of a fungus called Candida albicans. This usually occurs in kids who are less than 15 years old and on adults who are over 50 years old. This red spot happens in people with low immunity, who had undergone heart surgery, who are on dialysis, who had undergone kidney replacement surgery, who had nervous disorders, who have high blood pressure and those who have diabetes.
Treatment
Eating vegetables, kiwi, dates, fruits, nuts, greens regularly will increase body’s immunity. If red spots occurred due to the presence of any disease, it should be enough if the person keeps that disease under control, the red spots will disappear by itself.
Oral Lichen Planus
Mucus layer in the mouth will swell due to the problems that occur because of cold. This causes Oral lichen planus. This leads to damage in palms, the inner side of cheeks and tongue. This can lead to irritation, itching sensation, pain, and swelling. Very rarely it can turn into mouth cancer.
Reason
Too much stress, Taking in too many medications, tablets, and painkillers for various problems in the body. Other than that it can happen when consuming too many spicy foods and drinking alcohol as well.
Diagnosis
After preliminary test, Doctors can take a tiny part of the tissue from tongue surface and send it for biopsy if needed.
Treatment
There are creams available to treat this problem, but it needs to used with Doctor’s direction.
Avoiding smoke, alcohol and spicy foods, and consuming natural healthy food is the best home remedy for this problem.
Leukoplakia
This happens in people who wear teeth set when the teeth set do not fit in over jaws, it can cause damage to mucous layer in the mouth. This leads to Leukoplakia.
Irregular sharp teeth can damage mucus layer, leukoplakia can also occur due to this. Apart from this, it can be taken as a symptom for people who smoke and have mouth cancer.
Treatment
Correcting teeth set, irregular and sharp teeth by surgery. Quitting to smoke (those who do) are the best treatments for this problem.