Learn about Oral thrush symptoms from Consumer Reports Health.

Oral thrush

What are the symptoms of oral thrush?

Oral thrush usually appears as white patches in your mouth. Your mouth may feel sore and you may get a burning feeling on your tongue.

If you have thrush in your throat, you may not be able to speak or eat properly. This can make you feel very unwell. Some people say things taste different when they have thrush.

Source:
Pankhurst CL.
Candidiasis (oropharyngeal): about this condition.
March 2009. Clinical Evidence. (Based on September 2008 search.) Available at http://www.clinicalevidence.com (accessed on 6 May 2009).

There are four main types of oral thrush and they can look quite different.

Source:
Elllepola ANB, Samaranayakel LP.
Oral candidal infections and antimycotics.
Critical Reviews in Oral Biology and Medicine. 2000; 11: 172-198.

The most common type of oral thrush appears as small white patches on the inside of the cheeks, throat, tongue or gums. The patches come off if you rub them and they may bleed.
In another type, you get smooth red patches on the roof of your mouth, the back of the tongue or the inside of the cheeks.
Sometimes, but not very often, oral thrush appears as raised white patches on the inside of one or both cheeks. These may be small and thin, or large, dense and rough. They don't come off if you rub them. Occasionally, the patches are speckled and lumpy. This type of oral thrush can contain cells that could turn into cancer.
People who wear dentures can get redness and swelling on the roof of their mouth or around their gums where their dentures come into contact with their mouth.

Your dentist may discover you have oral thrush when you go for a checkup, and give you some medication to treat it.

If you have symptoms, or the inside of your mouth looks different than usual, you will need to go to your doctor to find out if you have oral thrush, or whether something else is causing your symptoms. Your doctor will probably:

Look inside your mouth for white or red patches
Ask you about your symptoms.

The doctor might take a sample from the affected part of your mouth and send it to the laboratory to test it for Candida, the fungus that causes thrush.

If the patches in your mouth are still there after you've had medication to get rid of oral thrush, your doctor may refer you to a specialist. The specialist may take a sample of cells from the affected area (this is called a biopsy) and look at them under a microscope to see if they are normal.

Sources for the information on this page:

Pankhurst CL.Candidiasis (oropharyngeal): about this condition.March 2009. Clinical Evidence. (Based on September 2008 search.) Available at http://www.clinicalevidence.com (accessed on 6 May 2009).

Elllepola ANB, Samaranayakel LP.Oral candidal infections and antimycotics.Critical Reviews in Oral Biology and Medicine. 2000; 11: 172-198.

This information was last updated on May 08, 2009

This information is for educational use only, and is not a substitute for prompt professional medical advice. Readers should always consult a physician or other professional for advice and treatment.
© BMJ Publishing Group Limited 2009. All rights reserved.

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