The Coated Tongue - Its Cause And Meaning Part One
The coated tongue is due to the blood being charged with toxins. The tongue's resistance and that of other fluids is thus lowered, the saliva loses its power to stop the growth of micro-organisms and the mouth becomes an incubating chamber in which molds and bacteria of various sorts grow luxuriantly. In this condition the colon should be cleansed up to the cecum by coloclyster (high enema) once or twice daily. Five minutes should be consumed in allowing the colon to fill in the knee-chest position (the chest lower than the hips) and the last enema should be at 80°'
Boas says uncleanliness of the tongue is often the cause of bitter taste and bad odor. By scraping off the "fur" (bacteria, mucus, molds, deposits from the stomach or intestine and horny growth on the tongue) with a cotton swab or spatula one may frequently convince one's self of the source of the bad odor.'
Wainwright thinks the tongue may be a good index of intestinal health, and a foul condition of the breath speaks volumes of what may be suspected lower down, although in the ordinary sense the patient may not be constipated.' In such cases, says Kellogg, the constipation is latent. A barium meal will show ileum stasis of a most pronounced degree (delay in the ileum, small intestine) , most often in the last twelve inches. When the tongue is thickly coated the breath has a bad odor and not infrequently a characteristic fecal odor. In such cases there will always be found very pronounced intestinal stasis, the food residues and other body wastes being retained in the colon to putrefy instead of being promptly dismissed.
Such chronic conditions indicate, along with constipation, a defective ileo-cecal valve and an inefflcient intestinal flora (microscopic plant life). With the stasis and flora corrected the defective valve will not need attention. Even if such a valve were mended by a surgical operation and the condition that caused it allowed to remain, the former defect in the valve would recur
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