Do you suffer from a white tongue and are you looking for a solution?
You’re not alone.
4 out of 10 people suffer from this cheesy, bad-smelling coating on their tongue and don’t know what to do about it.
But do not panic: there is hope.
In this article, I’ll answer a question I got from Elwin, whose colleagues called him “Smellwin” behind his back.
"What is the best remedy for my white tongue coating? How can I clean my tongue effectively? My partner complains about my bad breath. The odour makes me insecure. Nothing seems to help."
To understand which treatment method works best, let’s first review 3 key facts about white tongue coating.
3 Characteristics of a White Tongue:
A white tongue (which is usually harmless) is usually caused by the rough texture of the tongue’s surface. Other causes can include dehydration, a weakened immune system, or the use of certain medications. Tongue coating consists mainly of food particles, residue, nasal mucus, and anaerobic bacteria.
Tongue coating has a strong odour. It causes persistent bad breath that’s noticeable to others. Without the right approach, this odour can be hard to get rid of. For many, this leads to insecurity, embarrassment, and avoidance of social or intimate situations.
If the tongue isn’t properly cleaned, coating can accumulate over years and years. This can lead to chronic halitosis (bad breath), a reduced sense of taste, and inflammation of the oral mucosa.
Do you want to get your fresh breath back?
The question is not whether you should clean your tongue, but how to do so safely and effectively, without harming your tongue’s tissues with aggressive tools.
What Tool Should I Use to Remove Coating?
The use of hard scrapers, such as toothbrushes or harsh tongue cleaners with bristles, is not recommended.
Dentists advise against them for the following 3 reasons:
Your tongue has thousands of nerve endings that are connected to your taste buds. Brushing too hard can damage these nerve endings. Moreover, it makes the tongue surface rougher, which actually attracts more bacteria.
Flat tongue cleaners are often ineffective. A large portion of the tongue coating lies deep in the grooves of the tongue’s surface. Flat scrapers rarely reach these layers, leaving much of the coating behind.
Metal tongue cleaners can rust, which means running the risk of a dangerous tetanus infection.
What Doctors Say About Harsh Scrapers
"Aggressive tongue cleaners, especially those with bristles, can irritate the tongue’s surface and lead to damage of the nerve endings in your taste buds." (Source) I (Source)
The photo below clearly shows tissue damage from a tongue cleaner with harsh bristles.
If you were to look at your tongue under a microscope, you’d see that a flat scraper doesn’t reach all the areas in between the rough tissue.
This is what your tongue looks like under a microscope:
Which Methods Are Safe?
Fortunately, there are safer and more effective alternatives that can clean deeply without damaging the surface of your tongue.
Drawing on literature, tests, and advice from our dental specialists, I’ll answer the question of the top 5 most reliable products for treating tonsil stones.
1. Bergenfeld® Tongue Clean Serum= Best in Test
Bergenfeld® Tongue Clean Serum is, in our opinion, the best method to get rid of tongue coating, without damaging your tongue tissue.
The Bergenfeld® serum is enriched with the revolutionary DioxZn+ Technology.
DioxZn+ is an oxidation technique that loosens and then neutralises troublesome residue, making it vanish instantly.
How does Bergenfeld® serum work?
DIOXZn™️ Technology breaks down and oxidises tongue coating and deeply cleans tongue tissue.
The result is a perfectly clean, pleasant-smelling, and smooth tongue.
See below how the formula reaches and deeply cleans the tissue.
One great advantage of Bergenfeld® is that DioxZn+ freshens your breath within 10 seconds.
The alcohol-free, microbiome-friendly formula neutralises bad-smelling sulphur gases from your tongue, for perfectly fresh breath.
With no bad breath you can engage in social and intimate situations with confidence.
Another benefit is that the manufacturer offers a money-back guarantee if you’re not completely satisfied.
Do you want the best, most effective, and safest way to remove tongue coating? Find out here if Bergenfeld® Serum is right for you.
2. JuliBrite® Tongue Clean Kit
It’s no coincidence that we have ranked the JuliBrite® Tongue Care Kit second.
After use of the kit, hardly any sulphur was detected — a strong sign of a clean tongue and fresh breath.
Many people opt for a tongue cleaner, in addition to or instead of Bergenfeld® drops.
If you do so, choose this variant of JuliBrite®, a mild tongue cleaner that comes with a disinfectant tongue gel.
The ultra-soft brush head with gentle bristles reaches even the deepest grooves of your tongue without causing irritation.
Three ergonomically designed scrapers, with heights of 1, 2, and 3 millimetres, remove multiple layers of tongue coating in one swift motion.
The massage points help to properly massage a gel or serum into the tongue tissue.
The loosened residue is neatly collected in the integrated gunk collector, which you can easily rinse under the tap.
Are you looking for a more gentle yet effective way to clean your tongue?
Find out here if JuliBrite® suits your needs.
3. Ikinora® Oil Pulling Mouthwash
This special mouth oil from Ikinora® laches on to, and removes, the bacterial coating on the tongue: the oil binds to fatty residues like bacteria, food particles, and dead cells on your tongue.
With ingredients like coconut oil and caprylic/capric triglycerides, the coating is gently loosened without damaging your tongue.
The added tea tree oil helps to reduce odour-causing bacteria.
Swish the oil around briefly and then use a tongue scraper to effectively remove the loosened coating.
The result: a visibly cleaner tongue and noticeably fresher breath.
The formula is also all-natural, and the packaging is 100% zero waste.
Curious to see if Ikinora® is right for you? Find out here.
4. XinusActiv® Fresh Breath Nasal Drops
XinusActiv® nasal drops tested surprisingly well. And that makes sense.
An often underestimated problem is that a lot of tongue coating is caused by mucus, bacteria, and residue from the nasal cavity collecting on the tongue.
Daily cleansing your nose with this formula — consisting of saltwater, hydrating glycerine and hyaluronic acid, antibacterial propolis, and xylitol — greatly reduces the flow of residue.
Xylitol and propolis also inhibit the growth of odour-causing bacteria. So, not only will your nose stay cleaner, your tongue will also remain noticeably fresher and cleaner.
Curious to see if these drops are right for you? Find out here.
5. Oramarie® Probiotic Chewing Gum
This special gum from OraMarie® proves to be uniquely successful for a clean tongue and fresh breath by influencing the balance of bacteria on the tongue.
As you chew, the probiotic strains (Lactobacillus brevis and Lactobacillus plantarum) are released into the mouth.
These good bacteria spread accros the tongue’s surface and displace harmful, odour-causing bacteria simply by taking their place and food source.
As a result, tongue coating — which consists of this biofilm of harmful bacteria— has no chance to build up.
The gum also stimulates saliva production, which helps flush away loose tongue coating and dead cells.
Ingredients like isomalt, sorbitol, and gum arabic ensure a pleasant texture and long-lasting effect without sugar, while BHT and magnesium stearate stabilise and preserve the product.
In short: this gum helps not by scraping, but from within — by actively enriching your tongue’s microbiome with beneficial bacteria that fight tongue coating and bad breath.
Curious to see if OraMarie® Probiotic Chewing Gum is right for you? Find out here.
Test Method: How We Tested the Products
Our editorial team compared several products for tongue coating removal.
Every morning, right after waking up — the time when our tongues have the thickest layer of coating — a new product was tested.
To measure the effect, we used a Halimeter®: an expensive, professional medical device also used in hospitals to detect sulphur gases from the tongue.
These sulphur gases — such as methyl mercaptan and hydrogen sulphide — are produced by accumulated tongue coating and are the main causes of bad breath.
This is what the Halimeter® looks like:
The participants breathed into a tube connected to the device.
The fewer sulphur gases (in PPB – parts per billion), the cleaner the tongue, and the fresher the breath.
4 Disadvantages of a Coated Tongue:
While it is often said that ‘the best tongue cleaner is no tongue cleaner at all,’ it’s still important to clean your tongue daily — for these 4 reasons:
Tongue coating is the leading cause of bad breath that can be detected by those around you, from up to 2 metres away.
A coated tongue produces sulphur compounds that can harm your oral tissues and gums.
If you don’t clean your tongue, your taste buds can become clogged, making you taste less and unknowingly overeat. (Source)
A dirty tongue hinders the production of nitric oxide — an essential molecule for cell renewal and healthy blood vessels. This leads to faster skin aging, a duller complexion, and possibly even a shorter life. (Source)
Most Frequently Asked Questions About White Tongue (with Solutions)
A white tongue usually occurs due to a buildup of bacteria, dead cells, or food particles between the papillae of your tongue. This often happens due to insufficient cleaning. The JuliBrite® Tongue Cleaner, which has both soft bristles and scrapers, is the perfect tool for effectively removing buildup — even from the deepest grooves. For the worst coating buildup, the Bergenfeld® Tongue Care Serum helps loosen the coating with an advanced oxidation technique.
Most of the time, it’s harmless and temporary. But if the coating persists or is painful, it could indicate an infection or underlying condition. In mild cases, a daily routine with the JuliBrite® Tongue Cleaner and Bergenfeld® Tongue Care Serum should restore the balance of your oral flora.
Clean your tongue daily with a combination of the Bergenfeld® Tongue Care Serum, which loosens coating with active oxygen, and the JuliBrite® Tongue Cleaner, which also reaches the deepest areas. This duo tackles both surface-level and thicker coating.
Not always. Try cleaning daily with the Bergenfeld® Tongue Care Serum and JuliBrite® Tongue Cleaner for two weeks. If the coating doesn’t go away, or if you have any pain or bleeding, then consulting a doctor is recommended.
Yes: thrush, for example (candidiasis). Such cases do require medical treatment. However, daily cleaning with Bergenfeld® Tongue Care Serum (without harsh chemicals) can help support oral health and slow down further microbial growth.
Only if caused by infections like thrush. In that case, it is important to clean your mouth very thoroughly. The JuliBrite® Tongue Cleaner helps prevent spreading by thoroughly and hygienically removing coating.
It may indicate an imbalance in your oral flora, dehydration, or digestive problems. You can get a fresh start with Bergenfeld® Tongue Care Serum, which uses oxygen to actively supports the recovery of your tongue. The JuliBrite® Tongue Cleaner helps prevent daily buildup.
A lot of sugar, alcohol, or dairy can disrupt the balance in your mouth. Combined with poor cleaning, this can cause coating. Use Bergenfeld® Tongue Care Serum for a daily deep clean, and the JuliBrite® Tongue Cleaner to reach the grooves of the tongue.
Absolutely. Drink plenty of water, eat healthy, and clean your tongue daily. By using the Bergenfeld® Tongue Care Serum alongside the JuliBrite® Tongue Cleaner, you'll establish an effective routine to prevent new coating.
A white tongue is often a sign of bacteria or fungi, while a yellow tongue is typically caused by smoking, coffee, or certain medications. Both types of coating can be addressed with Bergenfeld® Tongue Care Serum, which can
Disclaimer
The mentioned products and ingredients support daily oral hygiene and can contribute to a cleaner tongue and fresher breath. However, they are not substitutes for professional medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment. Always consult a doctor or dentist if you experience persistent issues, significant tongue discolouration, or chronic bad breath. Results may vary by individual. Always follow the instructions on the packaging.