4 Interesting Facts About Your Tongue
1. Your Tongue Can Tell You About Your Health
It may sound silly, but sticking out your tongue in the mirror can actually help to better inform you about your health. If you see that your tongue is pink, your tongue is likely in good health. However, there are a few red flags that may be a sign that you need to make an appointment with your doctor.
- White Spots: Finding white spots on your tongue can indicate that you have an oral yeast infection. It may also be a warning sign of leukoplakia.
- Red Tongue: Having a red tongue may mean that your body is lacking vitamin B-12 which is essential for brain health.
- Sore Tongue: If you have a sore tongue it may be from something trivial like accidentally biting your tongue, or due to something like smoking regularly.
2. Taste Buds Help Us Survive
The average tongue has anywhere from 2,000 to 10,000 taste buds at a time with roughly 50-150 receptor cells each. Each and every one of our taste bud helps us to taste and enjoy some of our most favorite meals. An interesting fact to know about the taste buds on your tongue is that they can actually communicate with your brain to let it know if what it’s tasting is safe to be ingested, according to Women’s Health.
3. The Tongue Is Our Most Flexible Muscle
It may or may not be hard to imagine, but our tongue is in fact the most flexible muscle in our bodies! The tongue’s flexibility allows it to manipulate the food in our mouths while chewing and can be a cleanser for our teeth after a meal. It’s commonly believed that the tongue is the strongest muscle, and while it is the most flexible the fact that it is the strongest is a myth.
4. Our Tongues Home Hundreds Of Bacteria Types
This interesting fact may disgust you and have you running to the bathroom to brush your teeth and tongue. It is commonly said that if your tongue isn’t kept clean you can have bad breath. So, why is this? Well, our mouth is home to over 600 different types of bacteria. Just one single drop of our saliva can contain one million of those bacteria.
Contact Us
Here at Rockwall Oral Surgery, we offer oral pathology and oral cancer screenings. If you are looking to request an appointment for these screenings or other services that we offer with Dr. Pollock, please give us a call today at (469) 264-8921. You can also visit our contact page or reach us via email at info@dentalimplantsurgery.com.
