Does a White Tongue Mean Your Sick?

White tongue refers to a white covering or coating on your tongue. Your whole tongue might be white, or you could just have white spots or patches on your tongue. A white tongue is usually nothing to worry about. But on rare occasions, this symptom can warn of a more serious condition like an infection or early cancer.

What sickness make your tongue white?

If the tongue pales and develops white patches, this may result from a fungal infection, such as oral thrush. Oral thrush can be painful and cause thick, white or red patches to form on the tongue. A person may have trouble swallowing or eating.

Does Covid make your tongue white?

For a while we've been noticing an increasing number of people reporting that their tongue doesn't look normal, particularly that it is white and patchy. Professor Tim Spector, COVID Symptom Study lead, tweeted about this in January and got a lot of responses - and some pictures!