Hairy Tongue: The Condition That Can Turn Your Tongue Black Overnight.

Added: 2026-05-07

[00:00:00]Imagine getting up in the morning. You go into your bathroom. You look in the mirror. Maybe you're going to start brushing your teeth. Maybe you're going to skip it. And what do you see? You see something like this or something like this or even something like this. I'll get to that last one, the yellow one, later on because that's not the same thing as hairy tongue. That's what we're going to talk about today.

[00:00:29]This condition is called hairy tongue and it's a true medical diagnosis. It's billable. It's covered by your insurance company if you come in with this condition and needs to be treated. But let's talk about what causes this and how frightening and unsettling it can be to see this looking back at you in the mirror. But it's almost like overnight this happened. But actually this has been ongoing on your tongue for quite a long time. Uh but then maybe this color popped in basically overnight.

[00:01:05]This condition of hairy tongue is because on the surface of the tongue there is something called filform pepelli or you can say pili.

[00:01:17]These little structures shed on a regular basis just like our skin sheds and cells everywhere shed. And this happens on your tongue. And how it happens is with hydration, good oral hygiene, not consuming things that are going to stain the tongue or coat the tongue like certain medications might do it or smoking might do it. This black, green, brown, yellow discoloration can go away almost as fast as it comes on. If you don't have a tongue scraper, just use a toothbrush. If you don't have a toothbrush for some reason, any dental clinic would provide a toothbrush for you. The other thing you can do is just take a washcloth and put toothpaste on it and gently wash your tongue. Get as far back as you possibly can because sometimes people do really well at oral hygiene from the middle forward, but they completely miss the back part of their tongue because maybe they gag easy or they're afraid to do it. I completely understand that. But maybe try bending forward using a washcloth to clean it off and get the back of your tongue just as well as you get the front part of your tongue. Even though it's considered a temporary condition, sometimes it stays for a long time. And that's just because it's not it might resolve but then it comes back again because it's not properly being consistently cleaned.

[00:02:50]So if your condition gets kicked up because of something like dry mouth, there are products that can help with that. If it's because of your inability to have a toothbrush or tongue scraper, there are ways to resolve that that I mentioned. If it's because of antibiotics or other medications that are causing some issues with coating the tongue and therefore you're having difficulty with that when you adjust your medications or perhaps when you're done with your antibiotics things will change. It looks so dramatic though, doesn't it? Because the tongue is supposed to be nice and smooth and pink and maybe glossy and looks normal. There are different shades of pink and even a little bit of a white color is normal too. A darker color is normal as well.

[00:03:33]But having what looks like hair on the tongue or a whole lot of sticky debris, that is not normal. And that makes it so the tongue become becomes very textured and sticky and therefore traps everything in there.

[00:03:52]Does it hurt? Well, patients report that it's difficult to swallow. Sometimes they report there's a lot of itching or irritation inside their mouth and on their tongue. And some people report that their whole mouth or down their throat begins to hurt. And that could be because of another condition that has to do with yeast. And that is where there's a white coating on the tongue that does not come off with gentle scraping or with a toothbrush. You need to see your dentist or your doctor about that. So once the underlying triggers are removed, then the tongue will go back to normal.

[00:04:34]How is this diagnosed? Well, with your provider or your dentist, they're going to do a little history and physical with you. Talk about what you're doing. talk about perhaps what medications you started, what changes have happened in your life with your diet and so forth that maybe this is contributing uh from some of those things. And then observation, taking a good look at the tongue and also sometimes um the provider might want to do a little scraping and send that to the lab. it would be really unlikely with hairy tongue that the person would need a biopsy. But if that's the case because there's something else that's suspicious there, don't be afraid. I have a video about tongue biopsies and I'll tell you all about that in the video. I'll list that below.

[00:05:28]What does the word differential diagnosis mean? It means that there are other things that it could be. So, if somebody comes into the ER with chest pain, it's not automatically an a heart attack. Maybe it's other things that are causing this the chest to hurt. And so, it could be these things. And there might be a list of things it could be.

[00:05:50]And that's the differential the differential diagnosis from what you are thinking suspiciously could be a heart attack. Well, it's the same idea with the tongue or with anything. And I bring that up because when I was diagnosed with cutaneous lymphoma and that is lymphoma, but on the skin, yes, it can go internal. So, we're just hoping. But, um, so far so good. But when I had all my pathology sent off and my biopsies sent off of the lesions, the differential diagnosis was very long.

[00:06:25]And unfortunately, my sister thought that the differential diagnosis was the diagnosis. She didn't understand even when I said to her this is just ruling out all these other things. Something something there scared her and she thought that I had all of these things going on. So, it's that these other things are going to be considered by your provider. So, let's go over some of these that it could be other than hairy tongue.

[00:07:00]It the yellow that I wanted to bring up is a picture of a child who has a liver condition and now and has jaundice. So, besides the eyes are yellow, um the white parts of the eyes have turned yellow, maybe the skin has turned yellow, maybe not, but in that the child's case, the tongue turned yellow.

[00:07:17]So when you see yellow on the tongue, you want to go to your provider, urgent care or ER as soon as you are able. That is something that needs to be looked at immediately. Any yellowing needs to be looked at immediately. The other thing it could be like I mentioned too is thrush and that is a type of yeast and that's where the tongue is covered in white.

[00:07:40]Another condition is called a geographic tongue and that has to do with I will try to find a picture of that one. It has to do with red out uh red patches on the tongue with the the white outline on there and the outline has irregular borders. Remember that some of these conditions are going to change the color of the tongue. But in hairy tongue, it is actually the structure that changes.

[00:08:05]The structure of the surface of the tongue is what is changing and then again trapping the debris making all of this build up. Go see your health care provider. Go to see your dentist as soon as you are able because this is a condition that does need to be checked out. For those of you who don't know, my name is Lisa. Thank you to all my new subscribers. I'm a registered nurse. I mostly worked pediatrics, maternal child nursing. Um, I then was a case manager for soldiers and for children in a children's hospital as a case manager.

[00:08:39]Most of my videos have to do with humanity, medicine, medical facts and myths, and some fun vlogs, too. I also include and have a playlist of books that I do reviews on that were written by physicians or that have to do with medical topics. So, if any of that interests you, please consider subscribing. And thank you to all my new subscribers. I appreciate each and every one of you. and I'll see you at the next