THE TONGUE

TONGUE TWISTERS

• Your tongue is actually a group of muscles.
• The front part of the tongue is very flexible and can move around a lot.
• The back part of your tongue helps you form certain letter sounds, like the "k" sound.
• The back of your tongue also pushes all the food you eat back into your throat.

TONGUE HELD DOWN TIGHT

• Your frenulum is what prevents you from swallowing your tongue.
• It connects your tongue to the bottom of your mouth.
• That is why your tongue doesn't fall down your throat.

TASTY TID-BITS

• Your tongue is covered in dots called papillae or "taste buds".
• These papillae help taste and grind all the food you eat!
• People are born with about 10,000 papillae, but they lose them as they get older.
• You end up with about 5,000 papillae when you are older.
• That's why some foods may taste stronger to you than they do to an adult.

TRAVELING TASTES

• Each taste bud is made up of taste cells, which have tiny hairs called microvilli.
• The hairs send messages to the brain, which interprets the taste.
• These hairs are useful and protect you from eating bad things.
• Identifying taste is the brains way of telling if what you are eating is good and safe.
• Cold foods make your taste-buds function worse, lessening your sense of taste.

FREIND OF THE TONGUE

• Your nose helps your tongue taste foods.
• Your nose helps you taste foods by smelling them before you eat them.
• Your teeth, lips, and mouth help your tongue to eat and talk correctly.
• Saliva keeps the tongue moist and helps break down food.

FIGHTING GERMS

• The back section of your tongue contains something called the lingual tonsil.
• Your tonsils filter out germs from your mouth.
• Tonsillitis is a decease that infects your tonsils.

THE TONGUE IS ONE TOUGH WORKER

• Your tongue does all the talking, mixing food, swallowing, tasting, and germ fighting
• Your tongue even pushes saliva into your throat to be swallowed at night.
• Keep your tongue in shape by brushing it along your teeth and avoiding scalding hot foods.