Why is my tongue white?

My tongue and the roof of my mouth are white. I first noticed my tongue years ago but I thought it would go away and it never did. Now it seems more of my tongue has become white. Everytime I clean my teeth i scrap my tongue to try and get it off and some of it does and my spit becomes really thick and gloopy its grose. The back of my tongue is worse and looks like theres cheese growing on it. It actually feels furry. I went ot my g.p and he just laufed at me and told me every1 has a tongue like this??!! But i think it was cos he only looked at the tip of my tongue i stuck from my mouth which is pink and didn't really care. Also recently I've been suffering dry mouth and I feel the need to keep chewing gum cos otherwise spit becomes all gloopy, yet mouth feels dry and I worry it gives me bad breathe. Help, its embarresing.

[Jerome Tsang, DDS]

If you can wipe off the white material on top and it has red, irritated tissue underneath, it may be candidiasis (thrush).  Candidiasis is a fungal infection.  You may want to go back to your general dentist to evaluate it and possibly try anti-fungal lozenges to see if that alleviates the problem.  More importantly, you should also find out why you may have a fungal infection.  

[shane91]

A related discussion, what is this? was started.