The Role of the Tongue in Digestion

In mechanical digestion, the tongue plays an important role. It possesses a very sensitive sense of taste, and also directs food in the mouth, enabling it to be chewed and swallowed easily.

On the surface and sides of the tongue are some 10,000 or so taste buds, which are sensitive to four different tastes: hot, sweet, salty and bitter. 28These taste buds allow you to distinguish the flavors of the dozens of different foods you consume every day. They work so well that the tongue can also distinguish the tastes of foods it has never encountered before. That is why a watermelon never tastes bitter to us in the way a grapefruit does, and why a piece of cake never tastes salty. In addition, the taste buds in billions of different people perceive the flavors of food in exactly the same way. The concepts of sweet, salty and bitter are the same for everyone. Scientists describe the tongue’s ability as “extraordinary chemical technology.”

1. Rear sulcus
2. Epiglottis
3. Palatine tonsil
4. Vallate papillae
5. Lingual palate curve
6. Foliate papillae
7. Fungiform papillae
8. Filiform papillae
9. Peak
10. Mid-line sulcus
11. Foramen coecum

a.Biter
b. Sour
c. Salty
d Sweet

But what would happen if there were fewer taste buds on your tongue?

For one thing, you would be unable to taste what you were eating. You would be oblivious to the taste of puddings, roast meats or bread. Whatever you ate would all taste the same. Dining would cease being a pleasurable blessing and would instead become a chore you had to perform several times every day. Yet that does not happen, and thanks to your taste buds, you can distinguish the flavors of everything you eat, which allows you to enjoy your food.