Smoker’s tongue sprouts green hair after years of smoking cigarettes

He tastes like salt and hair.

A man from Ohio experienced hairy, green tongue as a possible reaction to his tobacco use while receiving antibiotic therapy.

The patient’s fuzzy green-looking sensory organ was described in a research report that appeared in the New England Journal of Medicine.

According to the study report, a few weeks later, the 64-year-old tobacco user went to the doctor, claiming that his candy sucker had changed color and sprouted hair like a werewolf—a mythical creature that lives on the tongue.

His fuzzy tongue was diagnosed by doctors as “an irregular layer” of skin cells that appears on the tongue when an accumulation of waste and bacteria causes the filiform papillae, tiny cone-shaped protusions that house taste buds, to enlarge and change color.

This gives them the appearance of hair, which can grow to be nearly an inch long if the tongue is not cleaned often.

The Daily Mail claims that these materials have the capacity to entangle other objects, including food, fungus, and microorganisms, much like a mouth-based fishing net.

“Hairy tongue may appear brown, white, green, or pink, depending upon the specific cause and other factors, such as mouthwashes or even candy,” according to the American Academy of Oral Medicine.

The gentleman’s tongue, which looks green and scraggly in the photos, gives the impression that he may have tasted the fabled Sasquatch during the Irish celebration of Saint Patrick’s Day.

Usually brought on by poor oral hygiene, the condition, which primarily affects people over 40 (and is more common in men), can be made worse by smoking, which causes bacteria and plaque to accumulate on the tongue.

However, the doctors withheld from the patient how long the Ohioan had been a smoker.

There may have been another explanation for this patient’s tongue of hair: the doctors subsequently learned that the man had just finished a course of clindamycin for a gum infection.

According to WebMD, the use of antibiotics can upset the delicate balance of oral microorganisms by altering the types and quantity of bacteria, which can cause them to build up on the taste buds of food chokers.

Doctors did not say if the patient’s illness was caused by using antibiotics, smoking, or a combination of the two.

Thankfully, this usually transient condition is thought to be harmless; its most severe symptom is an organ burning sensation in the taste buds.

Fortunately, people can get rid of this layer of accumulation in their mouths by using a toothbrush or tongue cleaner. This is what happened to the Ohio man who was told to gently brush his tongue four times a day.

Additionally, doctors advised him to give up smoking cancer sticks.

After six months, his tongue problem had completely disappeared, even though he continued to smoke.

To avoid the formation of a short beard on the tongue, health experts advise practicing good hygiene, “Brushing the top of the tongue with a toothbrush should be part of regular daily oral hygiene activities. Many individuals are sensitive and have a tendency to ‘gag’ when accomplishing this procedure,” AAOM said.

AAOM added that “using a small brush and gradually going backward tends to lessen this problem.”

This is especially important because, despite being bizarre, fuzzy mouth is a very common condition—13 percent of adults experience it at some point in their lives.

In 2022, there was an odd case of an Indian man who suffered a stroke and then developed furry black (the kind that is most commonly associated with this type of black tongue).

The patient’s consumption of soft and fluid foods, along with the antibiotic regimen prescribed for his gum disease, are likely to blame for the fur infestation on his tongue, according to doctors. These foods are not as effective at scraping off the tongue’s outer layer as solid foods are.

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