What is the yellow tongue?

Some oral hygiene products, inclusive of mouthwashes, rinses, and toothpaste, include chemical compounds or particles that cause dry mouth, aggravate pores and skin cells at the tongue, or cause them to extrude color.

Common compounds are known to cause yellow tongue discoloration to include:

• Peroxides
• Witch Hazel
• Menthol
• Alcohol
• Thymol
• Eucalyptus

A dry mouth is the lack of enough saliva in the mouth. Saliva removes bacteria from the mouth, which helps prevent cavities. Saliva naturally helps remove excess bacteria and particles from the surface of the tongue. Dehydration reduces saliva production, so bacteria and food particles remain close to cells, increasing the risk of bacterial growth.

Cleaning the teeth and tongue helps reduce bacteria on the surface of the tongue, reducing the risk of developing a yellow tongue. While you do not brush your enamel often and thoroughly, pores and skin cells, and bacteria can increase on the papillae of your tongue. Bacteria release pigments that can cause your tongue to turn yellow. Food, tobacco, and other substances can also get caught on your tongue and turn it yellow.

Black hairy tongue is a fairly common, non-cancerous condition in which bacteria or fungi cause an enlarged, elongated, hair-like mat to appear on the surface of the tongue. Although the tongue usually appears black, it can also turn yellow, blue, or green. This harmless condition occurs when the small bumps called papillae that line the tip and sides of the tongue become enlarged.

• Using a mouthwash that contains peroxide, witch hazel, or menthol can change the color of your tongue
• Foods with dyes, colors, or that stick to the tongue
• Many foods comprise dyes or colorants that could stain the tongue yellow, or are sticky and stick with the tongue, discoloring its surface

Many medications and drugs also contain staining particles, cause pigment discoloration, or weaken the immune system. Common substances and medicinal drugs that can increase the danger of developing a yellow tongue include:

• diabetes and many diabetes control medications
• blood-thinning medications
• antibiotics
• lansoprazole (Prevacid)
• chlorhexidine (found in some disinfectant mouthwashes)
• iron salts
• minocycline
• bismuth subsalicylate
• anti-cancer and radiation drugs
• antipsychotic medications
• some illicit drugs, such as cocaine, can also make the tongue discolored

The overgrowth of Candida microorganism can cause white patches on the tongue that sooner or later broaden into a yellow hue.

Geographic tongue is a non-cancerous condition that causes red or white spots on the top and sides of the tongue that is often surrounded by a yellow border. This condition occurs when you have missing patches of papillae on your tongue. The spots are usually red, but they can also turn yellow. Sometimes they hurt. The condition has no known cause, but mainly affects children between the ages of 4 and 5. The patches tend to occur where skin cells are missing and are occasionally painful.

In people with jaundice, bilirubin, a chemical created by the breakdown of red blood cells, accumulates abnormally in tissues. Sometimes only specific parts of the body turn yellow, like the whites of the eyes. Other times, the entire skin may turn a yellowish hue or glow. There are many causes of the yellow tongue, jaundice requires immediate medical attention, and often treated it could be a sign of life-threatening conditions such as liver failure.

Some autoimmune conditions, such as eczema, weaken the body's immune system, allowing otherwise harmless bacteria to grow too large on the tongue.

Conditions that cause inflammation of the gastric lining are known to cause a yellow coating on the tongue. Much research has shown that a thickened, yellow tongue related to persistent gastritis or infection of the stomach lining, in particular while resulting from the Helicobacter pylori microorganism.