Friend of the Tongue

Last time you had a cold and your nose felt stuffed up, did you notice that foods didn't taste as strong as they usually do? Well, that's because your tongue can't take all of the credit for tasting different flavors - it has help from your nose. Your nose helps you taste foods by smelling them before they go in your mouth and as you chew and swallow them. Strong smells can even confuse your taste buds: Try holding an onion slice under your nose while eating an apple. What do you taste?

Your tongue also gets help from your teeth, lips, and mouth. Your teeth help your tongue grind food as the tongue mixes the food around your mouth. And without your teeth, lips, and the roof of your mouth, your tongue wouldn't be able to form sounds to make words. Saliva is also a friend of the tongue. A dry tongue can't taste a thing, so saliva helps the tongue by keeping it wet. Saliva moistens food and helps to break it down, which makes it easier for the tongue to push the food back to swallow it.

Fighting Germs

If all that wasn't enough, your tongue even helps keep you from getting sick. The back section of your tongue contains something called the lingual tonsil (say: lin-gwul tahn-sul). Lingual is a medical word that means having to do with the tongue, and tonsils are small masses of tissue that contain cells that help filter out harmful germs that could cause an infection in the body.

But when you have tonsillitis, it's not your lingual tonsil that's infected. Tonsilitis affects the palatine (say: pah-luh-tyne) tonsils, which are two balls of tissue on either side of the tongue. The lingual tonsil, the palatine tonsils, and the adenoids are part of a bigger system that fights infections throughout your body.

The Tongue Is One Tough Worker

With all that talking, mixing food, swallowing, tasting, and germ fighting, does your tongue ever get a rest?

No. Even when you are sleeping, your tongue is busy pushing saliva into the throat to be swallowed. It's a good thing, too, or we'd be drooling all over our pillows. Keep your tongue in tip-top shape by brushing it along with your teeth and avoiding super-hot foods. A burned tongue is no fun!

Updated and reviewed by: Steven Dowshen, MD
Date reviewed: March 2007