Chicago Family Dentist

The tongue, so loved for its ability to taste, is a large collection of muscles. When its overall size is taken into account, the tongue is made up of the strongest muscles in the entire body. Inside the tongue, there is a collection of four pairs of muscles, all running down its length.

In addition to the ability to taste, the tongue performs a variety of other functions. The flexible front part moves. This helps people form different sounds as they speak. The tongue also moves food around in the mouth so that the teeth can chew it while the back of the tongue helps push chewed food into the throat on its way to the stomach.

The top surface of the tongue is covered with tiny bumps called papillae. These little bumps not only give the tongue a rough surface with which to push food around, but they also contain the taste buds. These taste buds, as I’m sure we all know, allow us to distinguish flavors. A person is born with roughly 10,000 taste buds, but they die off gradually as people age. The elderly have only around 5,000.

Each taste bud contains tiny sensitive hairs called microvilli. These are responsible for sending messages to the brain. The brain then interprets the signals and identifies what taste a person is experiencing. The taste buds are able to identify four distinct tastes. These are sweet, bitter, salty, and sour. Some foods make the taste buds less sensitive, particularly when they’re cold. As an example, frozen juice doesn’t taste nearly as sweet as the same juice in liquid form.

For more information on how the parts of your mouth work together, contact Chicago family dentist Dr. Sumeet Bagai at 773-767-1554.