How Much Do You Know About Your Tongue?

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Question 1/10
How many muscles make up your tongue?
- a
  
  1
- b
  
  8
- c
  
  25
Answer 1/10
How many muscles make up your tongue?
- You answered:
- Correct Answer:
It looks like it’s one big muscle, but your tongue is actually a bundle of four that help it change shape, and four more that move it around. All eight are grouped into one big happy tongue family by a mucous membrane.
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Question 1/10
How many taste buds call your tongue home?
Answer 1/10
How many taste buds call your tongue home?
- You answered:
- Correct Answer:
The bumps you see and feel on your tongue aren’t taste buds -- they’re called papillae. Just one papilla can have several thousand taste buds inside it. You can also find buds on the inside of your cheeks, the back of your throat, and other parts of your mouth.
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Question 1/10
How often do your taste buds replace themselves?
Answer 1/10
How often do your taste buds replace themselves?
- You answered:
- Correct Answer:
Their life cycle is about 14 days. This means that every day, about 10% of the taste buds on your tongue are hit with new flavors for the very first time.
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Question 1/10
Does your sense of taste change as you get older?
Answer 1/10
Does your sense of taste change as you get older?
- You answered:
- Correct Answer:
As you age, some of your taste buds stop replacing themselves. That means older adults have only about 5,000 working ones -- that’s roughly half the number kids have.
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Question 1/10
Which of these is not a taste your tongue can detect?
Answer 1/10
Which of these is not a taste your tongue can detect?
- You answered:
- Correct Answer:
Science has named five official tastes: sweet, sour, bitter, salty, and umami (savory). Spicy isn’t a taste -- it’s a pain signal. You may think food tastes spicy, but it’s how the nerves in your tongue tell your brain there’s pain and heat in your mouth.
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Question 1/10
True or false: Your taste buds are grouped in “zones” for different flavors.
- a
  
  True
- b
  
  False
Answer 1/10
True or false: Your taste buds are grouped in “zones” for different flavors.
- You answered:
- Correct Answer:
The sides of your tongue are more sensitive to flavor than the middle, but every part of your tongue can taste all five flavors equally.
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Question 1/10
Which of these is not an actual tongue condition?
Answer 1/10
Which of these is not an actual tongue condition?
- You answered:
- Correct Answer:
The hairy type is a harmless buildup of keratin -- the stuff that hair is made of -- on top of your tongue. You get it when you don’t clean your mouth well, if you drink too much tea and coffee, or from certain medications. A scrotal or "fissured" tongue looks wrinkly from the deep grooves this condition causes.
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Question 1/10
People with a heightened sense of taste are called:
Answer 1/10
People with a heightened sense of taste are called:
- You answered:
- Correct Answer:
Supertasters are extra sensitive to flavors -- especially bitter and sweet. They have more taste buds on the front of their tongues than most people. And they're more likely to be women than men.
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Question 1/10
True or false: You can roll your tongue only if your parents passed the gene for tongue rolling down to you.
- a
  
  True
- b
  
  False
Answer 1/10
True or false: You can roll your tongue only if your parents passed the gene for tongue rolling down to you.
- You answered:
- Correct Answer:
For years, science teachers used tongue rolling as an example of simple genetics. But in 1952, a study using identical twins showed that there’s no gene for it. Genes do play some role in your level of tongue gymnastics, but practice can also make perfect.
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Question 1/10
Can you swallow your tongue?
Answer 1/10
Can you swallow your tongue?
- You answered:
- Correct Answer:
You couldn’t gulp down your tongue even if you tried. The base is anchored to the bottom of your mouth with a sturdy membrane. So, it’s swallow-proof! (Thank goodness.)
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Sources | Reviewed by Evan Frisbee, DMD on May 30, 2020 Medically Reviewed on May 30, 2020

Reviewed by Evan Frisbee, DMD on
May 30, 2020

IMAGE PROVIDED BY:

1) Getty

SOURCES:

Medscape: “Tongue Anatomy.”

National Library of Medicine: “How Does Our Sense of Taste Work?”

Kids Health: “What Are Taste Buds?” “Your Tongue.”

Miura, H. Archives Italiennes de Biologie, June 2010.

The American Academy of Oral Medicine: “Hairy Tongue.”

National Organization of Rare Disorders: “Tongue, Fissured.”

Bartoshuk, L. Physiology & Behavior , 1994.

University of Delaware: “Tongue-rolling: The myth.”

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