White/Beige/Cream colored stuff on my tongue… What is it? And how do I get rid of it?

See, I see this creamy colored stuff on the back half of my tongue. I think it’s bacteria, but I’m not quite sure. My main concern is it’s causing me to have bad breath and I’m afraid to open my mouth at school, etc. So I want to know how to get rid of it please. Thanks!

You are right, it is bacteria.
You must brush regularly. Use a tongue scraper. You can get one in the toothbrush section of your store. If you prefer, you can substitute a spoon for the tongue scraper. They both work basically the same.
A good mouthwash is a good thing too.

Some people have more bacteria on their tongues than others do. Good dental hygeine is essential no matter what!

Good luck!

The Black Death; aka bubonic plague: why did the victims smell bad before they died?

I was always wondering this: When my high school history teacher was lecturing about the Black Death and how it killed a huge chunk of Europe, she was describing all the symptoms and also saying that the victims had a foul odor, like, smelled terrible right before they died. Because of the bad smell, esp from their breath, scented posy flowers were stuffed in their pockets (“Pocket full of posy” from the nursery rhyme). What exactly was causing the plague victims to have such a bad and disgusting stench? Was the odor caused by the plague bacteria producing toxins in them and rotting their organs? or something else such as dead corpses already around them? What’s anyone else’s input on this? Thanks

First of all, teachers aren’t always right. It’s a myth that Ring Around the Rosie has anything to do with the Black Death: http://www.snopes.com/language/literary/rosie.asp

If indeed people with the Black Death smelled, it could be because plague causes hemhorraging of the lungs, which leads to death. There are theories that the Black Death was not plague, but rather something else (anthrax and an ebola-type virus have been suggested), but still the death from blood in the lungs, and lesions of infection on the skin, could cause a foul odor.