Tasting



	The tongue has about 10,000 taste buds. The taste buds are linked to the brain by nerve fibers. Food particles are detected by the taste buds, which send nerve signals to the brain. Certain areas of the tongue are more sensitive to certain tastes, like bitter, sour, sweet, or salty. Often, taste sensations are a mixture of these qualities.

Review Date: 11/29/2012
Reviewed By: Luc Dupont Jasmin, MD, PhD, FRCS (C), FACS, Department Neurosurgery at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, Los Angeles, CA. Department of Surgery Ashland Community Hospital, Ashland, OR. Department of Anatomy at UCSF, San Francisco, CA. Review provided by VeriMed HealthCare Network.

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