The Tongue
It’s something you use all day, everyday: you tongue! But have you ever stopped to think about your tongue? What do you really know about your tongue?
Did you know that the tongue is a muscle? Actually, the tongue is really made up of many groups of muscles. These muscles run in different directions to carry out all the tongue's jobs.
The front part of the tongue is very flexible and can move around a lot, working with the teeth to create different types of words. This part also helps you eat by helping to move food around your mouth while you chew. Your tongue pushes the food to your back teeth so the teeth can grind it up.
The muscles in the back of your tongue help you make certain sounds, like the letters "k" and hard "g" (like in the words “kite” and "go"). Say these letters slowly, and you'll feel how the back of your tongue moves against the top of your mouth to create the sounds.
The back of your tongue is important for eating as well. Once the food is all ground up and mixed with saliva, or spit, the back muscles start to work. They move and push a small bit of food along with saliva into your esophagus, which is a food pipe that leads from your throat to your stomach.
Did you ever wonder why your favorite foods taste so good? Well, you can thank your taste buds for letting you appreciate the saltiness of pretzels and the sweetness of ice cream.
Taste buds are sensory organs that are found on your tongue and allow you to experience tastes that are sweet, salty, sour, and bitter. Want to know how your taste buds work? Okay, first, stick out your tongue and look in the mirror.
See all those tiny bumps? Those are called papillae and your taste buds are inside them. Taste buds have very sensitive microscopic hairs called microvilli. Yes, hairs! Those tiny hairs send messages to the brain about how something tastes, so you know if it's sweet, sour, bitter, or salty.
Most people about 10,000 taste buds and they're replaced every 2 weeks or so. But as a person ages, some of those taste cells don't get replaced. An older person may only have 5,000 working taste buds. That's why certain foods may taste stronger to you than they do to adults.
So next time you’re eating an ice-cream cone or singing your favorite song give a little thought to your tongue. You need your tongue to chew, swallow, and sing. And don't forget talking and tasting!
