Potential causes of a yellow tongue include:
Poor oral hygiene
When you don’t brush your teeth often and thoroughly, skin cells and bacteria can build up on your tongue’s papillae. Papillae are the little bumps that line the tip and side of your tongue.
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Bacteria release pigments that can turn your tongue yellow. Food, tobacco, and other substances can also get trapped on your papillae and turn your tongue yellow.
Black hairy tongue
Black hairy tongue is a harmless condition caused by the overgrowth of dead skin cells on your tongue. This overgrowth cause your papillae to grow larger. Bacteria, dirt, food, and other substances can collect on these bumps and turn them different colors.
Even though “black” is in the name of this disorder, your tongue can turn yellow or other colors before it turns black.
Factors that may contribute to the development of hairy tongue include:
- smoking
- excessive coffee consumption
- drinking alcohol
- dry mouth
- some antibiotics, such as tetracyclines
- eating a soft diet
Other symptoms can include:
- burning sensation on your tongue
- gagging or tickling feeling
- strange taste
- bad breath
Dry mouth or mouth breathing
Dry mouth is a lack of adequate saliva in your mouth. Normally, saliva washes bacteria out of your mouth, which helps prevent tooth decay. If your mouth is abnormally dry, bacteria buildup can lead to yellow patches on your tongue.
Factors that can contribute to a dry mouth include:
- medication side effects
- diseases like Sjogren’s syndrome and diabetes
- radiation and chemotherapy
- breathing through your mouth while you sleep
Geographic tongue
Geographic tongue happens when you’re missing patches of papillae on your tongue. Doctors don’t know why this happens, but it sometimes runs in families.
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The condition gets its name because the missing patches make the surface of your tongue look like a map. The patches are often red, but they can turn yellow, too. Sometimes they’ll hurt.
Medicines that contain bismuth
Pepto-Bismol and other bismuth subsalicylate-containing medicines can turn your tongue colors that range from yellow to black. It may also cause your stools to darken.
Antibiotics
Taking antibiotics can make you more prone to developing oral thrush, a yeast infection in your mouth. Oral thrush is caused by an overgrowth of the yeast Candida albicans.
This overgrowth can cause white or yellowish patches on your tongue, inner cheeks, gums, or lips.
Black hairy tongue may also be a rare side effect of antibiotics.
Other medications and drugs
Some other medications and drugs may cause a temporary yellow or brown discoloration of your tongue and mouth. When the tongue is affected, usually, the discoloration appears on the upper surface of your tongue.
Medications that are known to sometimes cause discoloration in your mouth include:
- iron
- psychotropic drugs that cause mouth dryness
- anti-malaria drugs
- oral contraceptives
- chlorpromazine
- cyclophosphamide and busulfan
- chemotherapy drugs
- zidovudine
- lansoprazole
Cocaine use is also known to cause discoloration.
Some mouthwashes
Using a mouthwash that contains peroxide, witch hazel, or menthol can turn your tongue colors. Prescription mouthwashes that contain chlorhexidine are also known to stain the surface of your teeth and tongue.
Tobacco smoke and chewing tobacco
Chemicals in tobacco smoke and chewing tobacco can make your tongue turn a yellow color. Smoking is also a risk factor for developing black hairy tongue.
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In a 2018 case study, researchers describe a 36-year-old woman who developed yellow hairy tongue after smoking 25 cigarettes a day for 17 years. She made a full recovery after improving her oral hygiene habits and quitting smoking.
Diet
Some foods and drinks may cause temporary yellow or brown staining of your tongue. These include tea and coffee or foods with yellow dyes added like candies, chips, or crackers. Some vitamins and supplements also contain yellow dye.
Jaundice
Jaundice is a condition that causes your skin and the whites of your eyes to turn yellow. It happens when your liver is damaged and can’t properly process the waste product bilirubin. Bilirubin is a yellow pigment that’s produced when red blood cells break down.
Jaundice can also cause your mouth to turn yellow. Bilirubin tends to accumulate along the soft palate and floor of your mouth near your frenulum, the band of tissue that connects your tongue to the bottom of your mouth.
Jaundice requires prompt medical attention because it can indicate a serious disease such as:
- cirrhosis
- hepatitis
- pancreatic cancer
- liver cancer
- bile duct obstruction
Autoimmune conditions
The autoimmune condition called psoriasis causes flaky and scaly skin. It can also cause red patches with yellow edges on your tongue. However, oral psoriasis of the tongue is extremely rare.
According to the authors of a 2019 study, only 64 cases were reported in the scientific literature from 1903 to 2009.
Diabetes
In a 2018 study published in the Journal of Epidemiology, researchers found that a yellow tongue coating was associated with diabetes and tended to be associated with prediabetes in nonsmoking Japanese men and women.
Gastric conditions
Gastritis is inflammation of the lining of your stomach. Chronic gastritis is characterized by long-term inflammation of this lining. Some people with gastritis have a yellow coating on their tongue.
In one study, researchers found that in 440 chronic gastritis patients infected with the bacterium Helicobacter pylori, 81.16 percent had yellow tongue covering.
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