Bay Shore NY Dentist With Facts that Roll off the Tongue

Many people don’t think of your Bay Shore NY dentist as someone who can help them with anything but their teeth- but that couldn’t be further away from the truth! As dental health professionals, we help patients with problems that may occur in their entire oral cavity, including the gums, tongue, cheeks and more every single day. One area of the mouth that often goes overlooked, but is never underused, is the tongue and taste buds. The complex system of cells and muscles helps you swallow, eat and speak properly- yet, so many know so little about their tongues and taste buds.

With that in mind, today we have gathered a few facts that we found to be very interesting about your tongue and taste buds for you to take a “lick” at:

-Your tongue is an amalgamation of different muscles- not just one! It has 8 different muscles altogether that intertwine and work together. It is also the only muscle that works away from the skeleton!

-Different areas of the tongue sense different tastes. Various spots across the tongue sense sweet, sour, salty, bitter and savory all differently. The sides of the tongue are usually more sensitive and the back of the tongue is more reactive to a bitter sensation.

-You have taste buds in places you didn’t even know! Sure, there is a majority on your tongue, but the back of your throat, inside your nose and at the top of the esophagus are all other places you have these taste-perception-sending cells.

-Your tongue says a lot about your health. Either we or a physician can identify issues such as vitamin deficiencies, oral cancer, diabetes, yeast infections, scarlet fever and more just be looking at the appearance of your tongue.

For more information on your tongue and taste buds, or if you wish for your Bay Shore NY dentist to examine yours for any reason, schedule an appointment by calling (631) 665-8484 today!