Normally, tongues are pink and healthy, and you may notice that it’s a varying degree. It’s usually not something that you think about the most, and usually, your teeth are the primary focus. But if you see it become grayish, concerns might be there. Some people may wonder what the cause of a gray tongue is, and whether you should worry about this. Here, we’ll go over what it is, the risk factors, and the treatments.
It’s Usually Leukoplakia
This is a condition where you get gray and white patches that appear within the mouth. They may be on your tongue, or on the gums and cheeks. They’re usually not painful and you might not even notice it, unless you look at the tongue, or you scrape all of this off.
If you smoke a lot, have lots of alcohol, or like to chew tobacco, you’re usually not going to get this. It’s not something that you shouldn’t pay mind to, but for the most part, it’s not dangerous. Untreated though, you might get oral cancer.
Oral Lichen Planus
This is an inflammatory condition that affects some parts of your body creating bumps that are reddish-purple, and they may be rashes too.
This usually creates gray and lacy lesions on the tongue, and this can usually create ulcers in some people, sores, or a sensation that it’s burning.
Most of the time, you usually won't even be able to determine how this is caused, but this happens usually when there are immune responses. If your immune system is weakened, you also may have some risk for this.
There are other triggers too, including:
The flu vaccine
Some chemicals and anagram metals
Hepatitis C
Some pain relievers like ibuprofen or arthritis, diabetes, heart disease, and blood pressure medication
This is usually not harmful, but usually about 1% of the cases account for oral cancer
Oral Thrush
This is basically candida, and it’s a yeast. This is basically a fungus that’s present naturally within our mouths, but when it’s overgrown, it can cause problems over time. This also happens to babies and adults that have immune systems which are weakened. This usually creates patches that are white, with a cottage cheese texture on them, including where your tongue is.
They’re usually not totally removed easily, and usually, it’s bleeding and red. You shouldn’t get rid of this yourself. You should definitely go see your doctor, as it can be caused by immune systems which are weakened, cancer, diabetes, and even some antibiotic resistance due to years of poor treatment and imbalance.
Bad Oral hygiene
Finally, you may just have bad oral hygiene that’s causing this. You may have some possible inflammation in your tongue papillae, the little hairy projections, and they become inflamed due to the bad oral hygiene. These cells get trapped, and that causes an appearance of a white coating. Usually, it also comes with bad breath too.
The best way to treat this is to see your dentist, as they can offer you the ideal treatment.
Most of the time, they’ll look it over to make sure it doesn’t turn into cancer, and they’ll ask you to quit those lifestyle habits like smoking and alcohol for now. Usually, lichen planus goes away naturally, but there are some gels which help.
For the most part, oral thrush is treated by prescriptions, depending on the situation.
The bet way to treat this yourself, is to make sure that you take care of your teeth by brushing and flossing and making sure that you clean your tongue.
