Objectives The aim of this study is to analyze the characteristics of the tongue coating pattern in the elderly patients with xerostomia. Methods Ninety-six elderly patients with xerostomia were recruited by advertisement and they visited the oral diseases clinics at Kyung Hee University Korean Medicine Hospital and Kyung Hee University Hospital at Gangdong from November, 2011 to August, 2013. After signifying the assent, the subjects who passed screening were enrolled this study. The subjects were evaluated on their clinical characteristics of xerostomia using visual analogue scale for xerostomia, dry mouth questionnaire, unstimulated salivary flow rate. In addition, Yin-deficiency questionnaire was used to evaluate the Yin-deficiency state and Winkel tongue coating index and Digital Tongue imagin system were used to measure the tongue coating of patients. Results The proportion of women was higher than that of men, and there were few smokers in this study population. This population had chronic and relatively severe xerostomia symptoms. Also, thin coating pattern was showed in this elderly patients with xerostomia and this result was regarded to the influence of Yin-deficiency. The thin coating patten was observed in the group with higher Yin-deficiency score. There was no difference in tongue coating between the hyposalivation and normosalivation group. Conclusion In the elderly patients with xerostomia, Yin-deficiency is might be considered as one of the main cause of xerostomia. Hence, it is thought that this patients showed the thin coating pattern. This results could be used in diagnosis and treatment for the elderly patients with xerostomia in traditional Korean medicine.