Yellow tongue

liney

My son who is nearly 3, for the nearly a week he has had a yellow tongue!

Now at the beginning of the week i thought nanny had been giving him flouresent sweets, but apparently not. The last 3 days he has been with me and has had nothing i can think that would have dyed it that colour, nor does he chew things anymore to get dye off a toy. He doesnt have bad breath; his gums are not inflammed, and his teeth are pearly white. He drinks water, milk, tea, 1 fruit juice (usually apple) per day and occassionally Blackcurrant squash. He doesnt have a poorly tum, so i am at a loss as the what is causing it... i think i will pop in and see the nurse to have her look tommorrow, but just wondered if anyone might have any bright ideas as to what it might be? Weird one)

pink123_2

Hi Liney,

Sorry to hear about your son. I think that you are doing the right thing by going to see the nurse. I hope I can help a little. The tongue is sometimes the window to the body and it may turn several colours. When the tongue turns yellow it is said to be a result of some problem with the liver. So I think that you are dealing with Jaundice here. There are many reasons why a child or adult may be Jaundice so the first thing I would do is make an appointment with my GP. I hope this helps. Try not to worry as I am sure all will be ok.

Toothsmith

Could be a fungal infection of the mouth.

Thrush or the like. Has he been poorly or on antibiotics recently?

Jaundice I would have thought would have given him a yellow hue all over.

If the nurse has no idea - try a dentist second. Drs are usually pretty poor when it comes to things in the mouth!

liney

Nurse didnt know... Dr thinks it might be Thrush, so have some anti fungal drops/medicine to try. I must say his diognosis didn't fill me with much confidence, so we shall see.

Toothsmith

That's Drs for you!

A normal healthy mouth in a normal healthy person will be able to resist thrush.

Therefore if you suspect it, you should find out WHY the patient isn't resisting it, and sort that out - not just blind prescribe antifungals in the hope it might work!

In a 3 yr old, it's probably that he's been a bit under the weather with some bug or other, and he'll probably get better on his own with or without antifungals, but if it doesn't get better, or if it comes back - then get off to a dentist.

liney

2nd Dr says its a 'coated tongue' and is probably from consuming alot of milk? No treatment and nothing to worry about. Will go away on its own.

Toothsmith

Quite probable. Does he consume a lot of milk? Cut it down a bit and see if it makes a difference.

Is it still the same after 10 days?

I would still get to a dentist if I were you.