Medical Questions » Mouth and Throat Questions » Question No. 684
| Question: | What causes a white coating on the tongue? I find that I can scrape the coating off, but it returns soon afterwards, What can be done to overcome my problem? |
| Answer: | A white coating on the tongue may be caused by poor mouth hygiene, a fungal infection of the mouth (thrush), excessively fast reproduction of the surface cells of the tongue (leukoplakia), cancer of the tongue, and a disease called lichen planus. There are also a number of rarer causes.
Oral hygiene can be improved by using a mouthwash twice daily. These are readily available from chemists. In the initial stages, a very potent mouth wash made from hydrogen peroxide may bring rapid relief.
Thrush (a fungal infection of the mouth) can be cured by anti-fungal lozenges that can be prescribed by a doctor.
A steroid mouthwash or tablets (both on prescription) may be necessary to control a severe case of leukoplakia or lichen planus.
Cancer of the tongue is a serious condition, that is more common in pipe smokers. As you can scrape the coating off temporarily, this is unlikely to be the cause of your problem.
The treatment obviously depends upon the cause, and the cotrect diagnosis can only be made by your doctor.
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