Ask a doctor on the topic of General medicine

coating on the tongue

January 19, 2012 | 10,00 EUR | answered by Dr. med. Ralf Berg

Hello,

I have taken the following picture of my tongue coating after waking up. What can I do about it?

Before, the coating was mostly in the back of my tongue, but now it is more pronounced in the front as well. I scrape it off every morning like crazy, but it's back the next day. It's almost impossible to scrape everything off, especially in the back of my tongue.

Dr. med. Ralf Berg

Dear Inquirer,

On the pictures, only a whitish coating can be seen. A diagnosis can be made by taking a swab from the tongue and having it examined for fungus, bacteria, etc. Just scraping it off won't help.

For fungal infections, antifungal medications are effective, and the dermatologist is responsible for these examinations and diagnoses. There are also harmless variants without pathogen infestation (e.g. stronger tendency to keratinization) that do not need to be treated.

Your family doctor can also prescribe an antifungal agent (usually drops) directly in case of clinical suspicion, and after a few days you can already see if the suspicion was correct, and the tongue returns to its normal pink color.

Best regards,
Dr. R Berg