When it comes to tongues, the word alone is often enough to gross a fair few people out. After all, it’s certainly not the most attractive part of the average human body. But at the same time, it’s by far one of the most important.
It’s often said that in order to really appreciate something…anything at all…you need to learn as much about it as possible. So, in order to help give you a better understanding of that rather unusual pink thing in your mouth that you probably take for granted, here’s a quick rundown of ten fascinating things you never knew about your tongue:
1 – It Plays a Key Role in Oral Health
First of all, your tongue can and will have a marked impact on the health of your teeth and your mouth in general. Even if you use the best electric toothbrush recommended by dentists and the very best water flosser of 2016, you’re only doing half the job if you don’t look after your tongue. Your tongue harbours an unholy amount of dirt, grime and bacteria that build up over the day and night, which it’s up to you to make sure you remove.
2 – The Average Tongue Length is 10cm
If you measure the tongue from its tip to the back of the throat, the average length is around 10cm. That being said, some people have much longer and shorter tongues than others – the current world-record for length being held by one Nick Stoeberl. Measuring in at 10.1cm, the part of his tongue that stretches outside his mouth is longer than most entire tongues!
3 – Your Tongue Has a Print as Unique as a Fingerprint
Though it’s not something that’s ever been brought into widespread use, it’s nonetheless possible to identify a person entirely by their tongue print. Just as is the case with fingerprints, every tongue print in the world is 100% unique and unlike any other. It’s just that using fingerprints to identify people tends to be a hell of a lot less messy and quite a deal more convenient too! After all, tongue prints aren’t usually left around most crime scenes!
4 – Your Tongue Has a Lot of Taste Buds
Exactly how many taste buds you will have on your tongue will vary enormously compared to those around you. While some people have around 2,000 taste buds on their tongue, others have no less than 10,000. And yes – the more taste buds you have on your tongue, the more effectively, accurately and intensively you will taste what you eat and drink. Those with 10,000 taste buds widely being considered ‘supertasters’ in expert circles.
5 – You Can’t See Your Taste Buds In the Mirror
Contrary to popular belief, you cannot in fact see your taste buds (or anyone else’s for that matter) with the naked eye. You can certainly see little bumps on your tongue, but these aren’t actually taste buds – they’re the projections that the taste buds are positioned on top of. And while we’re on the subject, you may also be interested to know that taste buds die off every 14 days or so and are replaced with brand new ones!
6 – Your Tongue Isn’t Your Body’s Strongest Muscle
Despite what you may have read or been told, the tongue is not in fact the strongest muscle in the body. It may be very strong, massively versatile and one of the most flexible of all body parts, but when it comes to actual strength…well, let’s just say it doesn’t hold a candle to certain other muscles. Instead, the single strongest muscle when it comes to the amount of pressure it is able to exert is your jaw. The heart is the muscle that carries out the most work in the body by far, while the glutes and quads produce the most force of all. You have a strong tongue for sure, but it’s not your strongest muscle.
7 – Taste Buds Are Designed to Keep Us Alive
Far from simply making eating an enjoyable pursuit, our taste buds actually exist in an evolutional sense to keep us alive. When it came to our ancestors, they often only had their sense to rely on when it came to determining what kinds of foods they could safely eat, along with which unfortunate choices might have killed them dead. These days we have far more information to go on, though you still get a pretty good idea when you get something in your mouth that really wasn’t supposed to go in there!
8 – Rolling Your Tongue Isn’t All Genetic
While it’s always been a fun factoid to throw around the classroom, evidence has taught us that the ability (or lack thereof) to roll your tongue does not in fact come entirely down to genetics. A point proven by the fact that it is perfectly possible for a person to learn over time to roll their tongue, just as it is equally possible for identical twins to present with totally different tongue-rolling abilities.
9 – You Don’t Sense Different Tastes in Different Zones
Again, despite what you may have been taught along the way, the tongue does not in fact have four separate zones that detect sweet, salty, sour and bitter tastes. Instead, all of these tastes along with umami can be detected across the entirety of the tongue. It’s just that certain areas of the tongue are more sensitive to certain tastes than others, which is why sour tastes tend to affect the sides of your tongue more than elsewhere.
10 – A Dry Tongue Cannot Taste
Last but not least, it is fundamentally impossible for a dry tongue to taste anything at all. This is because in order for the taste buds to pick up flavours, the molecules of whatever is being tasted must first be dissolved in liquid. Which means that just as a dry tongue cannot taste, a moist tongue cannot taste anything that is not soluble or in liquid form. Hence why licking a flat pane of glass (please don’t!) would return no flavours whatsoever.
