Say Hello To Your Tongue!

The tongue has many more important purposes than just churning around the food and drink in your mouth. At the office of The Gastroenterology Group of Northern New Jersey, we take superior care of your complete digestive system, from its beginning to its end.

Here are a some facts about the tongue, an incredibly flexible and powerful muscle, which, besides playing a crucial role in chew food, inhabits an important role in your health throughout your life.

When you’re done chewing a mouthful of food into particles, the tongue and saliva help turn the particles into masses known as bolus. The tongue then pushes the bolus into the esophagus, which is a tube that ends in the stomach.

The tongue, crucial to a person’s ability to form words to speak, quickly lets you pronounce a huge variety of sounds. In fact, it allows you to clearly say more than 90 words per minute.

If you’re one of those folks who live to eat instead of eat to live, here’s some interesting information: The tongue’s taste buds let you sample five taste components: sweet, sour, salty, butter and savory. Rather than each sensation’s buds being placed in just one section, the buds are scattered throughout the tongue’s surface, with each taste being sensed equally well everywhere.

Just as you want your other organs in your body to be healthy, it’s also essential to take care of your tongue.

After you brush your teeth but before you rinse and spit, use your toothbrush to gently get into your tongue’s peaks and valleys. That’s where bacteria lurk and prosper. In fact, bacteria on your tongue is one of the leading causes of bad breath!

At the office of The Gastroenterology Group of Northern New Jersey, our compassionate and highly educated staff of professionals enthusiastically provide our patients with personal and superior care. Call us today to schedule an appointment!

By The Gastroenterology Group of Northern New Jersey
February 27, 2020