{"id":1295,"date":"2022-03-30T21:03:21","date_gmt":"2022-03-30T21:03:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.mydentalpracticeblog.com\/hudsonhighlandsdentistry\/dental-care-blog\/do-your-friends-know-these-6-mouth-facts\/"},"modified":"2022-03-30T21:03:21","modified_gmt":"2022-03-30T21:03:21","slug":"do-your-friends-know-these-6-mouth-facts","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.mydentalpracticeblog.com\/hudsonhighlandsdentistry\/dental-care-blog\/do-your-friends-know-these-6-mouth-facts\/","title":{"rendered":"Do Your Friends Know These 6 Mouth Facts?"},"content":{"rendered":"

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IF YOU\u2019RE SHORT<\/b> on fun topics of conversation for your next party, might we interest you in some weird mouth trivia? We\u2019re sure you\u2019ll be able to impress your friends.<\/p>\n

1. The Bumps on Newly Erupted Adult Teeth Have a Name<\/h3>\n

You might remember what it was like when your adult front teeth came in and they had bumps on the ends of the chewing surfaces. If not, maybe you\u2019ve seen those bumps on your child\u2019s teeth. Well, those bumps are completely normal and they are called mamelons. The theory about why we have them is that they help the teeth erupt from the gums<\/strong>, and in most cases, they will wear away over time from chewing.<\/p>\n

2. Our Sense of Taste Relies on Spit<\/h3>\n

None of the ten thousand taste buds we have on our tongues would be any use if it wasn\u2019t for our saliva. That\u2019s because we don\u2019t taste the food molecules on their own; they have to be dissolved in our spit<\/strong> before the receptors on our taste buds can detect them.<\/p>\n

3. More on Those Taste Buds<\/h3>\n

Most people assume that the visible bumps on our tongues are taste buds. Those bumps are called lingual papillae and they contain many taste buds each.<\/strong> Individual taste buds are too small to see with the naked eye. Lingual papillae come in four different types: filiform, fungiform, foliate, and vallate. They serve slightly different purposes, but all types except for the fungiform ones contain taste buds.<\/p>\n

Tying this back to oral health, the difficulty with the bumps on our tongues is that they make a rough texture where bacteria love to hide. When we let it build up, it can give us a lingering bad taste in our mouth and make our breath very sour. What\u2019s more, it can actually dull our sense of taste<\/strong>! This is why it\u2019s so important to clean our tongues every day, and the best tool for the job is a tongue-scraper, not just a quick scrub with your toothbrush.<\/p>\n