How Many Types of Taste Buds are Present on Our Tongue

Introduction

There are 5 types of taste buds present on our tongue. The sense of taste of food enables us to differentiate between pleasurable and unpleasant food. Different taste buds sense different flavors, where the taste of a food can range from being sweet, salty, sour, savory (umami in Japanese) or bitter. Thus, there are a total of 5 different taste buds. Fatty acids and calcium are supposed to stimulate the taste of the taste buds. Taste buds in our oral cavity help us in deciding whether to take the food inside or not by acting as gateway chemoreceptors.

Structure of Taste Buds

Taste buds are a group of neuroepithelial receptors which are mainly found on the tongue and palate. They have an average life span of 8 to 12 days. The bumps on our tongues are called papillae and they contain taste buds themselves. Taste buds contain microscopic hairs named microvilli. An average person has approximately 10000 taste buds on his tongue, with ageing the replacement of taste buds become slower and thus, the total number of functioning taste buds decreases.

Different Types of Taste Buds Papillae

There are three different types of taste buds papillae namely Fungiform taste bud papillae, Circumvallate taste bud papillae, and foliate taste bud papillae. Fungiform taste bud papillae have a mushroom shape and are located in the anterior two-thirds of the tongue. Circumvallate taste bud papillae are inverted V-shaped and are found in the posterior one-third of the tongue. Foliate taste buds' papillae are found on the lateral sides of the tongue.

Functioning of Taste Buds

The hairs named microvilli present inside the taste buds convert taste stimuli into electrical signals and tell the brain about the taste of something. Olfactory receptors present in the nose also help us smell. While we chew, our food releases some chemicals triggering the olfactory receptor present inside our tongue, these along with our taste buds work together to tell the brain about how something tastes.

When we are having a cold and our nose is busy, then it seems that our food doesn't have any flavor and it is because our nose receptors can't get activated. One can try this simple experiment at their home by closing their nose while eating and making sense of the taste of the sweet and then eating normally, one can easily compare the taste of the food in both cases.

Various Taste Disorders

There are three different types of taste disorders namely ageusia(complete loss of taste), hypergeusia(decreased taste sensitivity) and hypogeusia(increase in the sensitivity of the taste). These disorders can cause anorexia, malnutrition, etc. These disorders can also happen due to the consequences of cancer chemotherapy. Respiratory tract infections and infections in the oral cavity are the prominent causes of taste disorders.

Taste Disorder Medication

We try to cure the underlying condition which is causing a disturbance in our taste buds and hence, a dysfunctional sense of taste. Most commonly Zinc Sulphate, Vitamin A and steroids are used for taste disorders. But they have yet to show promising clinical research results.

Conclusion

Taste buds are present in the oral cavity on our tongue, in total there are 5 types of taste buds present to distinguish between tastes like sweet, salty, sour, savory or bitter. Sense of taste is not solely dependent upon the tongue, rather the nose is also responsible for how certain food tastes, as they work in tandem to discern the actual taste, that's why food becomes tasteless while we are suffering from runny nose, and the same food becomes joyful in the normal condition. There are some taste disorder medications, but they are not that promising, and the underlying cause needs to be cured to cure various taste disorders.