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Q: What exactly is the purpose of the tongue?
A: Among other things, the tongue is essential to speech. You can speak intelligibly without teeth, but you couldn't do so without your tongue. But here are some other things the tongue does: It helps you move food around in your mouth for chewing, swallowing and, ultimately, digesting. It also helps with plucking particles out of your mouth. The tongue also exerts gentle but necessary pressure against teeth to keep them aligned. Erupting teeth are coaxed into their proper positions by the tongue.
Your tongue is also fitted with the taste buds that make food appealing, a vital factor in getting the nutrition you need. In combination with your nose-the headquarters of olfactory sense-taste buds discern sweet, sour, salty and bitter tastes and can meld them into tastiness.
In short, the tongue is critical to your quality of life. Like any other part of the body, it is susceptible to disease, like cancer. When your dentist examines your mouth, he looks not only at your teeth, but at all of the tissue in your oral cavity, including the tongue. The next time you visit your dentist, ask him about how you can keep your tongue healthy.
August 10, 2009
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