Replied by Benni (San Diego, California) on 01/05/2012

I was able to get some of it off with a clean washcloth but not much.

A few months ago, I used antibiotics and developed candida while using them. And, the day before the brown/black tongue, I used a hydrogen peroxide tooth whitening kit at home. Lastly, about a week before developing the condition, I started a low carb diet. So, not sure which of those contributed but suspect that the three combined created the perfect storm.

I found earth clinic while searching for a solution to this embarrassing issue, and followed Ted's advice to use 1/4 - 1/2 tsp baking soda plus 1/4 teaspoon of citric acid (I used ascorbic acid = vitamin c; and sometimes also used magnesium citrate which I happened to have) in 1/2 glass of water taken twice a day.

Noticed such a significant improvement of the coating within an hour or two after drinking the baking soda that I was convinced this was going to be the solution. I continued the bs/ascorbic acid for 5 days and the problem more or less resolved over that 5 day period.

Magnesium citrate and ascorbic acid both cause the baking soda to fizz up. Per Ted's advice elsewhere on this site, I waited for the fizzing to stop before drinking. I am not sure that it is absolutely necessary to take the citric acid/ascorbic acide/citrate with the baking soda. I just happened to have them and already take them as part of my daily routine. I suspect that this could resolve with only baking soda (and glycerine - see below).

Note that Ted recommends not doing this for more than 5 days at a time.

My typical and unfortunate condition is to have a (less alarmingly) yellow coated tongue, so I looked into additional remedies to get rid of the last traces of the dark brown and hopefully yellow coating. Read on earthclinic somewhere - can't find it - that someone had great success treating this issue with vegetable (and/or USP) glycerine.

Bought 4 oz of USP glycerine at the health food store yesterday for about $4. ; also found some fluoride free toothpaste at Trader Joes that has glycerine in it. Using those things (just a few drops of glycerine directly on the tongue then brushed off with my new toothpaste) for the last 24 hours (but also still not using the baking soda because I didn't want to do that for more than 5 days) has completely resolved all remaining traces of brown/yellow tongue.

So having an ugly black/brown coated tongue led me to the solution for the yellow coating too.

PS, Trader Joe's has the bulk ascorbic acid (vitamin C powder) for about $10. if you need it quick, otherwise it's cheaper to order it off the Net.

Replied by Sewittybit (Sydney, Australia) on 10/26/2012