Hydrogen Peroxide

Ever wonder what carelessly using a chemical looks like? Well here's an idea:

Figure 1: A Man with the "Hairy Tongue" Condition.

Source: Mayo Foundation.

 http://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/black-hairy-tongue/multimedia/black-hairy-tongue/img-20006420 

(acessed on Oct 23, 2015). Copyright by Mayo Foundation.

Do you know what this is a picture of? It's a hairy tongue literally, the kind that you can't brush (1). 

This is a rare condition that can happen to you if you drink a lot of coffee or tea, don't brush your teeth, smoke tobacco daily, and rinse your mouth with hydrogen peroxide everyday (1).  

So What is Hydrogen Peroxide?

Hydrogen peroxide is a very common chemical that you can find in many places. It is in the atmosphere during a rainfall, and it is inside your body, after every meal you eat (2). It is also a common enough chemical that you can find it in your home, under the kitchen sink, or in your laundry room. Hydrogen peroxide is a bleaching agent, able to turn many things white, even your hands if they were to come in direct contact with the chemical (3). Every time you go to the dentist for your annual cleaning, the dentist would use hydrogen peroxide to give you pearly white teeth (3). Hydrogen peroxide is also the reason why the paper you use every day in school is white, and not brown (4).

Why Does it Cause a "Hairy Tongue"?

Now, you may wonder why using hydrogen peroxide as a mouthwash would cause hairs to grow on your tongue. Well, it is because hydrogen peroxide is a chemical that is strong enough to disturb the bacteria in your mouth. This would cause the bacteria to collect on your tongue over time to result in what you can see in the picture above (1). And so in general, hydrogen peroxide is considered to be a very useful chemical, however when it is abused, it could lead to bad effects on the body. That's why you always got to brush your teeth, kids, else you can get this on your tongue, and then it'll be like there are two of you, Jimmy and Jimmy Jr.



Hala AlSharbati
5th Year Student at Mount Royal University
Studying Bachelor of Science:
General Science Major with a Chemistry and Biology Minor


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References:

(1) MayoClinic.com Health Library - Black, hairy tongue 
http://www.riversideonline.com/health_reference/dental-care/hq00325.cfm (accessed Oct 31, 2015).

(2) Direst, J; Thacker, E. The Magic of Hydrogen Peroxide, 7th Ed.; James Direct Inc: Ohio, 2010


(3) TOXNET. Hydrogen Peroxide. http://toxnet.nlm.nih.gov/cgi-
bin/sis/search2/f?./temp/~u1PBAf:3 (accessed Oct 23, 2015)

(4) ChemIDplus - Hydrogen peroxide - MHAJPDPJQMAIIY-UHFFFAOYSA-N - Hydrogen peroxide [USP] - Similar structures search, synonyms, formulas, resource links, and other chemical information. http://chem.sis.nlm.nih.gov/chemidplus/name/hydrogen peroxide (accessed Oct 23, 2015).