My tongue is like a sponge, is yours?

noptical · Post by **noptical** » Sat Apr 21, 2007 8:50 pm

I keep wondering if the bad breath that most of us have, has to do with some part of our body having different for that normally (a "hardware" problem :p).

My tongue normally looks smooth except of the very back where its a little rough. Now if I even gently scrape the surface with e.g. my finger, it reveals those "hair-like" things that are on the tongue of which the edges are white (gives the tongue the white color), which makes it look like its hairy.
Now I've been researching the hairy-tongue since long time ago and all I came up with is that its normal and it will go away on itself if you eat rough food.
When I brush with the tung brush it seems that a lot of thick-saliva (which is probably mostly mucous mixed with saliva) comes from within the tongue, like it is a sponge that was sucking all the mucous throughout the day.

Anyway, I was wondering if anyone else has that. This "hairy-tongue" thing makes it easy for bacteria to hide inside the tongue and all that mucous that gets sucked in is all the food they need to produce that stinking stuff.
Everyone has a different tongue. Maybe what makes our mouths prone to bad breath and the bacteria that cause it, is the structure of our tongues that is formed by our genetics?

In other words...

+

=

?

mike987 · Post by **mike987** » Sat Apr 21, 2007 9:08 pm

i also get some crazy mucus like saliva whenever i use the tung brush..

however, it doesn't seem to be coming from the tongue, or even what was on the tongue.. i'll stick out my tongue, use the brush for 20 seconds or so .. i won't put my tongue back in my mouth, .. but when i go to spit the gunk out, it seems to have collected closer to the back of my throat.. it's not from the tongue at all.. i think the tongue brushing just stimulates more saliva to be produced.. that saliva may loosen up the slimy surface of my mouth or something.. but i'm certain it's not comoing out of my tongue..

interesting theory though.. i too have a very hairy tongue .. i also have a lot of round formations on the furthest reaches of my tongue.. if i put my finger back there, i can feel that they go all the way to the back of the throat too..

Larc400 · Post by **Larc400** » Sat Apr 21, 2007 9:49 pm

Yeah the round formations at the far back are the lingual tonsils, as mentioned in this thread

IMAGE

I also get a lot of slimey stuff showing up after brushing. Could be a defense mechanism from annoying the throat area with the tung brush...

Anyway, if only we could find a way to clean that very posterior part of the tongue gently but effectively (brushing that area (behind the arrow-shaped formation of taste buds) is not recommended) we'd be onto something

Some time after meals I usually feel a slimey lump kind of on the borderline between the nasal passage and the throat - kind of on top of the left end of the soft palate on this image:

Maybe that's also a hiding place for bacteria. Does anyone else get that feeling of a lump in that area?

Busted · Post by **Busted** » Sat Apr 21, 2007 10:55 pm

I have always wondered the same thing, it seems like my tongue gets coated very easily. Especially when I consume diary products. My whole tongue surface looks white. i can brush the front part off very easily with a toothbrush. But I can't get rid of the coating on the back. It seems like it's stuck there like glue. It seems to absorb stuff.

Btw one time at school during gym class a boy from my class was sticking his tongue out to another boy. The other boy's reactions was "Aah look it all white shit on his tongue". He was really grossed out by it. I've talked to the boy who stuck is his tongue out many times, I can assure you he is not a chronic halitosis sufferer. I was like damn his whole tongue is coated with white stuff. Why the hell doesn't he suffer from halitosis like I do. It was a little mean to think like that now that i think of it.

elliott · Post by **elliott** » Sun Apr 22, 2007 12:34 am

actually even brushing your teeth stimulate saliva, but when tongue brushing it helps to lubricate the situation!

My old doc told me never to scrape too hard at the bumps at the back of the tongue, so try and be careful.

elliott · Post by **elliott** » Sun Apr 22, 2007 12:43 am

also when your chewing gum, the jaw movement just gets the malodrous odors dancing around the throat and tonsil area. If you're chewing gum in front of a person, you might as well be talking to that person because you're only invigorating the bacteria and forcing it through the mouth or nostrils.

Put some sewage in a blender, add some gum, turn it on. It will still stink.

vanja · Post by **vanja** » Tue Apr 24, 2007 9:15 am

Noptical, i think we have the same spongue. When i scrape off all the coating on my tongue, i reveal "individual" threads.(white hair). I think they are an extension, or the end of the utter cells on the tongue.
These hairs are impossible to scratsch or nipp of. i think they smell by them selves. But also absorb, and easily takes up what is being put in the mouth.If I scrape of all the coat, they will quickly get coated back again. just like spongue always do in a moisty enviroment.

noptical · Post by **noptical** » Tue Apr 24, 2007 11:33 am

vanja wrote:When i scrape off all the coating on my tongue, i reveal "individual" threads.(white hair). I think they are an extension, or the end of the utter cells on the tongue.

Yes this is exactly what i mean. These hair-like things start pink and are white at the top.
Did you ask any doc about this?
I remember last summer I used my tongue scraper A LOT for a few days, so much that my tongue hurt. I saw these "hair" getting smaller and smaller mostly in the middle line of the tongue (because I scraped there better) and my tongue got pink at those spots while my bb was a lot better but it was impossible to follow that routine for long.

vanja · Post by **vanja** » Tue Apr 24, 2007 11:59 am

i have to scrape the white threads hard, too come to its pink end. I have read here somewhere that hard scraping is not recommanded, it can do damage. It is a hurtful prosess, so I dont do it often.But it gives me a little ,but shortlasting improvement of breath. have been to two spesialists, Could not help,didnt believe me. I dont think any spesialists know about this anyway. As you wrote, coating is said to be normal. But mine is different from the average. Surely this can not go away by eating rough things. I have written a post about rottening cells. Maybe its rottening sponge. This crazy, tabu, unmanageble problem is always on my mind.. strange have not turned mad, or worse off mentally .

unsungzero7 · Post by **unsungzero7** » Tue Apr 24, 2007 4:05 pm

what you guys are describing is actually relatively normal, the natural color of papillae is white (they become stained by the foods we eat, toothpaste etc.) some of ours are slightly longer than others so it is more visible, its basically a mild hairy tongue and although it provides the bacteria w a better environment to breed and hide, it is not going to be the main cause of chronic bb. In other words, the whiteness on the tip of the papillae are not sulfer compounds, merely pigmentation. Regardless, this type of tongue does not help with bb problems. I have also scraped extremely hard at these spots and then put baking soda on my tongue and have gotten them to disappear, however it is very painful and, they come back in a couple days so there i wouldnt reccomend it. Anyone that has dry mouth has a tongue that looks like this because the papillae are not "sloughed" off as often as other people. Any dentist will tell you this is normal and very common.

unsungzero7 · Post by **unsungzero7** » Tue Apr 24, 2007 7:14 pm

if it is REALLY furry it is probably chronic candidas

noptical · Post by **noptical** » Tue Apr 24, 2007 8:06 pm

unsungzero7 wrote:if it is REALLY furry it is probably chronic candidas

I had a saliva test done and there was no candidiasis found.

unsungzero7 · Post by **unsungzero7** » Tue Apr 24, 2007 9:36 pm

do you have dry mouth? Exactly how do they administer an oral thrush test because I think i should go get one myself for ive had a history of yeast problems. Is it a simple saliva test? Also, have you ever done the home test for candida where u spit in a glass of water and watch for the cloudy saliva? I know I fail miserably.

noptical · Post by **noptical** » Tue Apr 24, 2007 10:31 pm

unsungzero7 wrote:do you have dry mouth? Exactly how do they administer an oral thrush test because I think i should go get one myself for ive had a history of yeast problems. Is it a simple saliva test? Also, have you ever done the home test for candida where u spit in a glass of water and watch for the cloudy saliva? I know I fail miserably.

Yes I have dry mouth but not always, this is when my bad breath gets even worse. Its just random times of the day, especially when I'm out, thats why I believe it has do with my (many) allergies...
Of course I also get dry mouth when i speak. I drink a lot of water too...
For the saliva test my ENT took a small plastic (i think) tube like thing (like a pen) and it had inside something that looked like a q-tip. He rubbed the edge on my tongue and put it back in the tube and gave it to me to take it to a microbiology lab. I took the results the next day and it only cost me 20€ which were returned to me by my insurance like for almost all the tests I did :p

austuser · Post by **austuser** » Wed Apr 25, 2007 8:50 am

I got everything you guys describe and had all the candida treatments imaginable, from diflucan to nystatin (twice) and to this expensive threelac shit and none of it did anything. Candida wont cause the kind of bad breath u have if u even have oral candida.