white tongue

[Jeff327]

Good morning

The top of my tongue is a whitish tint. The filiform papillae are white. I don't know if this normal or not. The sides and tip of my tongue are red/pink which might make the filiform papillae more noticeable. I showed my dentist and said he sees it but says its normal. I showed my doctor, who literally looked at it for maybe 2 seconds and said its Thrush. He prescribed a bottle of Nystatin swish and swallow, which did nothing. I cant scrape it off, it just looks like the papillae are white which makes the tongue look white. My questions are: Would Thrush lesions stain or change color after eating something with color, red cinnamon candy or a slurpee? Coffee also stains my tongue yellowish brown. Does this sound like Thrush? I didn't swallow the Nystatin for the first few days, would this affect the treatment? If I rub glycerin on my tongue it turns pink then turns back to the original color a few minutes later. Reading on the internet it seems Thrush is a sign of HIV, so I went to Planned Parenthood and had a rapid Uni Gold test which came back negative and took 4 Oraquick oral swab home tests and all came back negative. I had never tested before and have been with the same woman for the past 10 years.

[jake2662]

A white tongue is something that nobody wants to have. Not only does a coated tongue look abnormal, but if it is left untreated, it's a strong indication of bad breath. People who have the condition known as geographic tongue are definitely more likely to experience a white tongue. Geographic tongue simply means a tongue that has lots of grooves and fissures in it, and these grooves and fissures make an excellent breeding ground for the anaerobic bacteria that cause bad breath and a white tongue. The way around this problem is simply making sure that your tongue is kept as clean as possible.

[Jerome Tsang, DDS]

Any reason for the dry mouth?  Dry mouth, if prolonged, can cause cavities and gum disease so its important to get that addressed too.  It can also contribute to the food being stuck on your tongue.  

Any of the following:

Smoking, pepto bismol, coffee/tea?

[Jeff327]

I scrape it with a tongue scraper and an orabrush. I have tried a few home remedies ( brushing the tongue with sea salt, gargling with water and Grapefruit seed extract) What would be the ideal hygiene? when I scrape the tongue a white mucus comes off and the papillae look like little white hairs. I've noticed my mouth is also excessively dry.

[Jerome Tsang, DDS]

I don't think its thrush.  Thrush is usually diagnosed as "wipeable," meaning you can wipe off the white patch and sometimes it'll be red or raw underneath.  Also the nystatin should do the trick in removing it.

You may have just thicker tissue on the tongue, resulting in a white appearance and can stain a little more easily.  Usually when it gets dark, its referred to as black hairy tongue (although it can be other colors).  Proper hygiene of the area should do the trick.