Here are some more causes of black hairy tongue (lingua villosa nigra) …

3) Bismuth can cause a black tongue.

Natural sulfur in the mouth combines with bismuth to form black-colored bismuth sulfide.

The most common bismuth drug is bismuth subsalicylate, e.g. Pepto-Bismol.

Doctors sometimes call it Pink Bismuth.

Pink Bismuth often darkens the stool as well as the tongue.

Depending on what food it’s mixed with, the stool might be green, red, yellow, white, or black.

Incidentally, the side effects of bismuth subsalicylate are interesting …

“This drug contains an aspirin-like product (salicylate). Children and teenagers should not take this product if they have chickenpox, flu, or any undiagnosed illness or if they have recently received a vaccine. In these cases, taking aspirin or aspirin-like products increases the risk of Reye’s syndrome, a rare but serious illness. During the first 6 months of pregnancy, this medication should be used only when clearly needed because of the salicylate. It is not recommended for use during the last 3 months of pregnancy due to possible harm to the unborn baby and interference with normal labor/delivery.”

4) Black tongue is a notorious side effect of antibiotics.

Antibiotics cause bacterial and/or fungal overgrowth on the tongue, slowing down the shedding of its keratin layer (and sometimes damaging it).

The U.S. National Institutes of Health (NIH), as of 2014, lists 474 antibiotic drugs in their pharmaceutical records, all of them having various side effects, many capable of producing a black tongue.

According to Rx List Inc., 2014 …

“The most common reactions to oral penicillin are nausea, vomiting, epigastric distress, diarrhea, and black hairy tongue.”

According to Our Dermatol Online, 2012 …

“Black discoloration of the tongue is a reaction pattern that can be related to some conditions such as medications, physiologic, metabolic and toxic disorders and exogenous substances like tobacco, alcohol, and crack cocaine. It can be caused by drugs such as corticosteroids, lansoprazole, methyldopa and some other antibiotics (cephalospoins, claritromycin, penicillins, sulfonamids and tetracyclines).”

According to the same source as above …

“Black hairy tongue is a benign, reversible and very rare side effect due to linezolid.”

Antibiotics can even blacken teeth, especially the incisors.

Almost one antibiotic prescription per person is written every year in the U.S. (833 per 1000 persons in 2010), flooding our drinking water and agricultural land with antibiotics.

Lee Blaney (“Ozone Treatment of Antibiotics in Water,” Water Reclamation and Sustainability, edited by Satinder Ahuja, 2014) wrote …

“Several reports have detected antibiotics in biosolids and manure; furthermore, the presence of antibiotic resistance genes has also been confirmed in biosolids. While direct toxicological impacts of antibiotics in biosolids are unlikely, the long-term ecological impacts of continuously loading antibiotics, and antibiotic resistance, into environmental and agricultural settings are unknown. Furthermore, antibiotic compounds can leach from biosolids, which represents a supplementary mechanism for introduction of antibiotics into the environment. In addition, antibiotics have been detected in food crops, presumably because of the presence of antibiotics in biosolids and manure.

“Antibiotics, and other antimicrobials, have also been detected in reclaimed wastewater and gray water. The concern over antibiotics in reclaimed wastewater stems from the use of such water supplies for irrigation and landscaping purposes, effectively introducing antibiotics to otherwise uncontaminated environmental settings. Most of the literature on gray water has focused on the presence of triclosan and triclocarban, antimicrobials used in many hand soaps and other personal care products. Triclosan has been shown to be present at high concentrations in gray water, which like reclaimed water, is often used for irrigation purposes. In fact, triclosan has been shown to be present in irrigated soils and plants. The ecological threat from triclosan has been well documented.”

Edo McGowan (“Run Many Tests,” Montecito Journal, Oct. 23, 2014) wrote …

“… recycled water can be a good idea if properly treated, but that is not what happens. It can’t happen because the standards do not allow for it.

“Thus, tertiary treated water comes with numerous pathogens and these can transfer to humans. This has been amply demonstrated with scientific studies and these studies had been presented to HTO [Heal The Ocean] numerous times and discussed. It is curious that HTO fails to comprehend the public health impacts discussed in these studies and continues to recommend recycled water produced under current standards. With its presumed political clout, HTO should be pushing for changes in the standards.

“Additionally, that water, as currently produced, will eventually contaminate the groundwater from which many homes, via private wells, get their drinking water. That means if you want clean water you will need to put in your own sophisticated Reverse-Osmosis system. Depending on your water demand, these can be quite pricy and you may find that the used filters could be badly contaminated with pathogens and thus need special disposal considerations.”

(To Be Continued)
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