White tongue

[Kellyj574 30]

It could be nothing but I just had my surgery Wednesday jan 23, 2012. While brushing my teeth today I noticed my tongue is white. What does this mean if anything?

[KK66 61]

Had the exact same thing early on. I initially thought it was thrush. It was thickly coated like it had a sweater on it...lol. It felt so weird.

Bump up your oral hygiene: It's from ketosis.

Brush it several times per day and stay hydrated as best you can. When you come off full liquids, it will clear up, I promise.

[MichiganChic 3,262]

Could be thrush, an oral fungal infection.

http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/oral-thrush/DS00408

[PdxMan 4,292]

How are your taste buds?

I had back surgery 3 weeks ago. About 3 days post-op, my tongue was splotchy. Didn't think too much about it. Couple days later, I couldn't taste a thing and my mouth and throat began to hurt. Called the Dr and they said it was thrush. I googled some images and sure enough, that was it. They gave me a prescription for an anti-fungal and about 5 days later, I was back to "normal".

Thrush is normally seen in nursing infants.

While I was disappointed I didn't acquire this condition through nursing, the Dr office explained it can also be caused by intubation during surgery as it can contribute to an inbalance of the micro-organisms in the mouth. Basically, it is a yeast infection in the mouth. Yeah, I know ... gross.

Got yogurt?

[Kellyj574 30]

Thanks guys.

My taste buds are great so far, I can taste all my delicious yogurt and puddings, just have a white tongue. I will keep brushing it as usual and if it doesn't go away I will definitely talk with the doc about it!

[tommyd 125]

I would not worry about it, if it is not painful. i had the same thing it goes away, but very gross while it was with me.

[Ms.AntiBand 2,984]

Most likely its a coating of bacteria and dead cells on your tongue. It also could be a sign of dehydration so keep that in mind, too.

[Strangefruit 179]

Mine was ketosis...living on Protein Shakes for 5 weeks, my tongue was white and my breath was stinky. Once I got to real food, it went away.

[LindsayRN 17]

So glad this was asked!! I have a white sweater tongue and stinky breath! Thanks ketosis!

[.......... 129]

gargle with peroxide and Water several days in a row and will kill it on surface of tongue.

[Losin4good 685]

My tongue was white when i was dehydrated.

Are you getting in all of your fluids?

[Cookiemonster73 92]

Its happened to me as well. Get a tongue scraper clean and brush your tongue twice a day. This will help.

[amitch17 17]

It's most likely from ketosis, when I used to do Atkins (and had an rating disorder) mine would do that. My breath would also smell like acetone.