What is the reason for the black tongue

If you have ever been to a traditional Chinese medicine hospital outpatient clinic, you will definitely find such a situation: the traditional Chinese medicine doctor will feel your pulse and then ask you to stick out your tongue. Taking the pulse can tell you about the movement of the body's meridians, qi and blood, yin and yang, and the tongue will also reflect changes in the body's internal organs. Tongue diagnosis is both simple and complex. There are various tutorials on the Internet that teach you how to diagnose the tongue. You can do the diagnosis yourself, but the valuable thing about Chinese medicine is that it can discover the intricate relationships within the appearance. Do you know why the tongue turns black?

The black tongue coating is mainly caused by the proliferation and blackening of the filiform papillae of the tongue. There are different shades of brown, gray, burnt black and even pitch black. Traditional Chinese medicine believes that if a patient has this kind of coating, the disease must be long-term and the disease is more complicated and serious.

First, high fever due to infection: the longer the fever lasts, the more black tongue appears.

Among patients with black tongue coating, half of the cases are caused by various inflammatory infections, including pneumonia, pyelonephritis, gangrenous appendicitis, peritonitis, cholecystitis, lower extremity phlebitis, suppurative osteomyelitis, pelvic inflammatory disease and sepsis. Infection, high fever, toxin stimulation and other factors can cause the filiform papillae of the tongue to proliferate excessively, and then the microorganisms stain them black, and the brown-black keratinized cells unique to black tongue coating appear, making the tongue coating dry, yellow and burnt black. .

Second, gastrointestinal dysfunction : due to the stimulation of bacterial toxins, gastrointestinal dysfunction reduces the pH value of oral saliva, increases the adhesion between tongue cells, and prolongs the keratinous protrusions of filiform papillae, which are easily stained black by microorganisms, forming black fur.

Third, fungal infection: In the human oral cavity (including on the tongue coating), there are various bacteria, fungi and other microorganisms growing. They usually restrict and promote each other, maintain a certain balance, and do not hinder human health. If a large number of broad-spectrum antibiotics are used for the treatment of diseases, the balance of these microorganisms will be broken. Some bacteria that are more sensitive to antibiotics are killed, while fungi that are relatively not afraid of these antibiotics take the opportunity to proliferate in large numbers. Since fungi can produce various colors, various colors of fur from brown to black can appear on the tongue.

Fourth, central nervous system dysfunction: it can cause increased acidity in the mouth, which is conducive to the growth of color-producing mold and the appearance of black moss.

Fifth, some critically ill patients: some chronic diseases, visceral failure, such as severe liver damage in the late stage of liver cirrhosis, chronic renal failure, uremia, various advanced cancers, extremely weak constitution may cause black tongue

Sixth: Exogenous coloration caused by oral administration of certain drugs or foods: such as Livzondele and other bismuth-containing drugs.