What does a unhealthy tongue look like?

An unhealthy tongue. If your tongue is a different colour than pink, or has large patches of white, brown, black, or another colour, this might indicate a specific health issue. Similarly, if you have large bumps or no bumps at all, you may also want to speak to a doctor.

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Can your tongue show signs of illness?

For example, a black and hairy looking tongue can signal poor oral hygiene, or diabetes. If your tongue is bright red like a strawberry, it could signal a deficiency in folic acid, vitamin B12, or iron. But, it could also mean you have strep throat, or a fever.

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What does a bacterial tongue look like?

A white tongue involves having a thick white film coating your tongue. The coating can cover your entire tongue's surface, the back part only or it might appear in patches. A white tongue can look alarming, but it's usually just a sign of trapped bacteria, debris (like food and sugar) or dead cells on your tongue.

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What color tongue indicates disease?

A healthy tongue is pink in color. If your tongue color is white, yellow, orange, red, black, purple, gray, green or blue, it could mean you have an underlying health condition. If you have tongue discoloration that doesn't go away, tell your healthcare provider.

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What color is stress tongue?

Furthermore, muscles such as the masseter (mastication muscle) are activated during stress and several aspects of saliva are changed (e.g., cortisol levels, flow rates) [6]. As a result, any of these changes could potentially contribute to the increase of purple color in the tongue.

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Discover the 18 Things Your Face Can Reveal About Deep Health Problems

18 related questions found

What does anxiety tongue look like?

Anxiety tongue symptoms descriptions:

Your tongue might feel unusually tingly or tingling. Your tongue might feel like it is stretched or being stretched. Your tongue might also feel like it is numb, frozen, or like it has been anesthetized. Your tongue might also feel like it is itching or itchy.

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What color is your tongue when you have liver failure?

Rarely, yellow tongue may be a sign of jaundice, a yellowing of the eyes and skin, which sometimes indicates liver or gallbladder problems. Self-care is usually all that's needed to treat yellow tongue, unless it's related to another medical condition. Medical treatment for yellow tongue usually isn't necessary.

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What color tongue says about gut health?

No coating on your tongue might mean that your body is exhausted and is not producing enough fluids to promote healthy digestion. A light, white coated tongue reflects the state of your digestive function. A heavily coated tongue indicates poor digestion, which is caused by excessive pathogenic fluid.

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What color is your tongue when you have kidney failure?

Yet, if the tongue is more of a blue tone, this is associated with kidney disease. Vitamin and nutritional deficiencies may cause a tongue to appear pale.

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What does a dehydrated tongue look like?

When someone is dehydrated, the tongue appears dry and typically has a white or white-to-yellowish coating. In some cases, the tongue can appear patchy or splotchy. If your tongue commonly sticks to the roof of your mouth, you are dehydrated!

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What does candida tongue look like?

White patches on the inner cheeks, tongue, roof of the mouth, and throat (photo showing candidiasis in the mouth) Redness or soreness. Cotton-like feeling in the mouth.

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What are the early signs of tongue infection?

Common symptoms that may affect your tongue include:
  • An enlarged or swollen tongue.
  • Trouble moving your tongue.
  • Complete or partial loss of taste.
  • Change in your tongue color (white, yellow, dark red, purple, brown or black).
  • Change in your tongue's texture (smooth, covered in raised patches or hair-like growths).

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What does a stress tongue look like?

Signs of your body undergoing excessive stress can show up on your tongue as unusual redness, sores, and ulcers. Also, if your tongue appears to have marks around the edges, that could signify consistently biting your tongue as a reaction to stress.

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Does your tongue show liver problems?

Oral manifestations such as lichen planus, ulcers, xerostomia, erosion and tongue abnormalities seem to be particularly prevalent among patients with chronic liver disease.

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Can your tongue show liver health?

Tongue thickness measured by ultrasonography, correlates significantly with the severity of liver disease, as assessed by CTP and MELD scores. The patients with a CTP score ≥ 10 have significantly reduced tongue thickness as compared to normal individuals and those with less severe liver disease and CTP scores of 5-9.

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What are 4 signs of kidney failure?

Signs and symptoms of acute kidney failure may include:
  • Decreased urine output, although occasionally urine output remains normal.
  • Fluid retention, causing swelling in your legs, ankles or feet.
  • Shortness of breath.
  • Fatigue.
  • Confusion.
  • Nausea.
  • Weakness.
  • Irregular heartbeat.

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What are the signs of kidney disease in the mouth?

Generally, the reported oral lesions in systemic illness include periodontitis, white patches, red patches, mucositis, oral candidiasis, burning sensation, changes in salivary composition and flow rates, pale mucosa and abnormal pigmentation [6,7].

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What does a white coating on your tongue mean?

White tongue is the result of an overgrowth and swelling of the fingerlike projections (papillae) on the surface of your tongue. The appearance of a white coating is caused by debris, bacteria and dead cells getting lodged between the enlarged and sometimes inflamed papillae.

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What color is gastritis tongue?

Gastritis. Inflammation of your stomach lining can lead to yellow tongue — particularly if the bacteria Helicobacter pylori caused the inflammation.

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What does your tongue look like when you have a vitamin deficiency?

Deficiencies in B6 or B12 may lead to a swollen, sore or yellow tongue, along with teeth indentations and fissures on the surface of the tongue. Iron: An iron deficiency can lead to a swollen tongue and painful sores in the mouth.

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Can stomach problems affect your tongue?

Gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD) causes heartburn and other symptoms, and it may also affect the tongue. Symptoms include a burning feeling in the mouth, bad breath, and tooth decay.

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What Colour is your tongue if you have iron deficiency?

What Is Anemia Tongue? Also referred to as glossitis, this condition causes the tongue to become inflamed and is characterized by several things when your iron levels are low. The tongue's appearance can morph into multiple shades of red and swell slightly in size.

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What are the warning signs of a damaged liver?

If signs and symptoms of liver disease do occur, they may include:
  • Skin and eyes that appear yellowish (jaundice)
  • Abdominal pain and swelling.
  • Swelling in the legs and ankles.
  • Itchy skin.
  • Dark urine color.
  • Pale stool color.
  • Chronic fatigue.
  • Nausea or vomiting.

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What is one of the first signs of liver failure?

Acute liver failure can happen in as little as 48 hours. It's important to seek medical treatment at the first signs of trouble. These signs may include fatigue, nausea, diarrhea, and discomfort in your right side, just below your ribs.

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