Fun Facts about your Tongue

Encouraging your kid to brush their teeth can be a daunting task. Instead of standing on their head trying to get them to brush, taking a different approach can be more helpful. How about you make the toothbrush-time fun and exciting for kids?

There are various ways to do so. One of which may be telling them fun facts about the tongue, making them want to clean their teeth and tongue. Here are some fun facts you can discuss with your kids to make oral hygiene fun.

• There are between 3,000 to 10,000 taste buds on your tongue that are not visible to the human eye. Every time you take a bite of food, all of the taste buds work together to retrieve the exact taste and deliver it to your brain.
• The taste buds keep evolving and regenerating. The average lifespan of a taste bud is just two weeks.
• While they aren’t located in specific areas as was believed for a long time, there are indeed 5 different types of taste buds: sweet, salty, bitter, sour, and savory. However, these are evenly scattered throughout the tongue.
• The tongue needs moisture to be able to taste. If you keep a morsel of food on a dry tongue, it would taste like nothing.
• Your tongue is always working. Even while you sleep, the tongue keeps functioning as normal.
• The tongue is the most flexible muscle in the human body, and there are eight muscles that make up a single tongue.
• The average tongue is about 3 inches long from the back to the tip.
• Each tongue has a unique print. So, just like your fingerprint, your tongue would create a unique impression that isn’t shared by anyone else in the world.

Next time you’re trying to get your kid to brush their teeth, keep them engaged by talking about these fun facts.

If you’re looking for a children’s dentist for your kids in or around Fort Lupton, Frederick, or Dacono, visit Firestone Pediatric Dentistry & Orthodontics. We have some great pediatric dentists here who encourage your kids to become more responsible with their oral hygiene.