My father is sick in the hospital. He has been there for 3 months. He has prostate cancer but the cause of his illness has been MRSA, kidney failure, and various respitory infections including Fungal Pneumonia. I have notice that his tongue, mouth and gums are turning orange. What would cause this?
Hello, I can understand your concern. I can think of several possibilities for the orange discoloration of tongue, gums and teeth of your father. Firstly, as he is in hospital for 3 months for various diseases, it is understandable that his oral hygiene will be compromised. Regular tooth brushing, flossing and gargles would have been neglected for 3 months. This may cause accumulation of food particles, debris, plaque etc. on the teeth, gums and tongue surfaces causing them to appear orange. If his oral hygiene can be improved by use of power toothbrush, mouthwash etc., this problem can be solved. Secondly, as he is taking many antibiotics for a chronic period of time, and he is also suffering from fungal pneumonia, there are chances that he is having fungal/yeast growth in mouth causing orange appearance. Ask the doctor if fungal pneumonia is being treated with systemic antifungal medications that can cover fungal infection of oral cavity and the growth with stop and disappear. In addition, there are some antibiotics given to treat MRSA, kidney disease and respiratory infections that have side effects of changing the normal bacterial flora of mouth and causing orange discoloration. You can ask your treating doctor about this too. I can assure you that none of these causes are too severe and should not be worried about. I hope this information helps. Thank you for choosing Chat Doctor. Let me know if you have follow-up questions. Best,