Mouth Breathing
To understand how mouth breathing can cause white tongue, it’s helpful first to understand the mechanics of the tongue. The tongue is a muscular organ that sits at the back of the mouth, with a velvety coating called the mucosa on the surface. The mucosa contains tiny, finger-like projections called papillae, which contain taste buds that help us discern flavors in our food.
When we breathe through our noses, air passes through a mucosa layer and across these papillae, flavoring our taste buds. While some air can pass through the nose and reach the tongue when we breathe through our mouths, there’s no way for as much of it to reach the papillae, which can cause a white film called “leukoplakia” that appears as a white patch on the tongue.
A medical study out of Turkey found that 46 percent of their study participants had leukoplakia present in some parts of their mouths. Regarding those with leukoplakia in their mouths, 90 percent were mouth breathers, and only 10 percent were nasal breathers. This suggests a strong connection between chronic mouth breathing and leukoplakia, or white tongue.
