Tongue

Question 1

What is the tongue

Answer 1

a muscular organ situated in the oral cavity + also the throat.

Question 2

The posterior one third section

Answer 2

the base of the tongue, lies in the throat + attaches to the floor of the mouth. it is relatively firmly attached + is mainly concerned with swallowing movements. the correct term for swallowing is deglutition

Question 3

The remaining anterior two thirds of the tongue

Answer 3

the body, lie within the oral cavity + this section is relatively moveable, being able to perform numerous convoluted movements, as it is composed of many bands of muscle lying in various directions

Question 4

The body is attached to

Answer 4

the floor of the mouth by a thin band of fibrous tissue called lingual frenum. when excess of this tissue occurs, the tongue is held more rigidly than normal so movement is restricted+ person is described as ‘short tongued’ or ‘tongue tied’ due to lisp

Question 5

The body of tongue is concerned with

Answer 5

taste, chewing activities + speech
all muscles of the tongue are innervated by the hypoglossal nerve (12th cranial nerve)
Functions of the tongue:

Question 6

1. Speech

Answer 6

by allowing certain sounds to be created by touching the tongue to the upper anterior teeth or palate such as (‘s’, ‘t’, ‘n’, ‘the’)

Question 7

2. Taste

Answer 7

the tongue is covered by various different types of taste buds (including filiform papillae, fungiform papillae + vallate papillae) that allow recognition of the four basic tastes - sweet, sour, salt + bitter

Question 8

3. Aids mastication

Answer 8

by assisting the buccinator muscles to package ingested food into a parcel, or bolus, for easier chewing before swallowing

Question 9

4. Aids swallowing

Answer 9

by guiding the bolus to back of the mouth, the oropharynx

Question 10

5. Cleansing

Answer 10

by moving around the oral cavity + the smooth surfaces of the teeth to dislodge food particles

Question 11

The lining epithelium of mucous membrane

Answer 11

covering the underside of the tongue is so thin that is allows the very rapid absorption of drugs placed here into the underlying capillaries of the tongue. Pts given glyceryl trinitrate (GTN) tablets or spray for trt of angina pectoris use their medication in this way