What is the reason for thick tongue coating?

Common tongue coatings are white, yellow and black. Traditional Chinese medicine believes that tongue coating is caused by stomach qi, and cold and heat of diseases can be distinguished from white and yellow tongue coating; The severity of the disease can be distinguished from the thickness of the tongue coating; From the change of tongue coating, we can distinguish the transformation of disease.

Tongue coating is usually grayish white. If you eat food containing pigments, your tongue coating will become colorful. For example, if you eat dark plum, catechu and iron-containing drugs, your tongue coating will be dyed black for a long time. Licorice will make your tongue coating yellow, and you will smoke too much. If you eat cough syrup containing opium tincture, rhubarb and other traditional Chinese medicines, your tongue coating will turn brown and red wine will be dyed red. However, the color of white tongue coating is the same as that of normal tongue coating, but the quantity varies greatly. The patient is anemic, the mucous membrane of the tongue becomes very pale, and the tongue coating is also very pale. Patients with heart disease are cyanotic, and their tongue coating becomes darker and purple. If the patient has jaundice, yellow tongue coating and mucous oral inflammation, especially oral inflammation and swelling caused by streptococcus. At that time, the tongue coating was as thick as a fur coat worn by a lady in a movie. Severe oral inflammation even makes gums and oral mucosa red, swollen and hot. This is a very painful problem, which prevents patients from eating. Cold food may be swallowed. Spicy food will make patients feel more painful. In addition to bacterial invasion, broken teeth, overheated food and mechanical and chemical stimuli may all be induced to varying degrees. Fortunately, these pathological changes with potential causes come and go quickly, and they can be fully recovered in less than two days. Thrush is an alternative oral inflammation, which usually begins with the tongue and then slowly spreads to the gums, palate, throat, lips, cheeks and even gastrointestinal tract, reaching the large intestine and small intestine. At first, the lesion is small, but it will become huge, or gradually fade away, and the color is pearly white, which is a little higher than the mucosa. Symptoms of patients may range from red congestion, submucosal bleeding, fountain-like bleeding to ulcers. The patient's tongue coating is thick and rich, he is thirsty and always wants to drink water. The more they drink, the more serious and thick their tongue coating becomes, and they feel uncomfortable, indigestion and slight itching in the gastrointestinal tract. The first sign may be one or two thrush in the mouth. Unless there is a secondary infection of bacteria and mold, it usually gets better in a day or two.