Michelle

I just got back from my regular 90 day checkup with my ENT/surgeon and I asked for an explanation of the "dead skin".
She was patient in repeating that the "white stuff" was not Thrush, and instead a good sign because it showed that the flap at the base of my tongue that was taken from my wrist was still alive and thriving. Unlike the regular tongue and cheek tissues, the skin of the flaps are not made to be constantly wet. Think about how shrivelled and white your skin got as a kid when you spent the whole day in the pool. So the healthy wrist tissue finding itself "underwater" just sheds the top layer and grows a new layer over and over every day. The dead cells sloughing off the flap mix with saliva and mucous to float to the top of the tongue where they just precipitate and stick. In fact my tongue flap is doing so well, it has a thick growth of hair. She pulled out a nasty dried up plug of skin & mucous. My prosthodontist does that also at his visits. He was the one who suggested using the tissue and toothbrush. So I wanted to update my prior post to clarify that it's not a warning sign or anything bad if the white stuff lessens but is still there all the time.
Charm