The oral mucosa

| The mouth is lined by the buccal mucosa. It extends from the red edge of the lips to the isthmus of the jaws.

The buccal mucosa is made up of the lining mucosa. It is found on the inside of the lip, inside of the cheeks, floor of the mouth, underside of the tongue, and soft palate. These areas do not participate directly in the chewing phenomenon and do not have taste receptors.

Has touch and pain receptors

• Masticatory mucosa: it is the one that directly receives the food chewing loads. Food glides through the areas near the teeth: gums and hard palate. It is pale pink in color because it has a very fibrous surface lining or epithelium. It has a fairly firm physical consistency and is hard on palpation.

• Specialized mucosa: we find it in the anterior 2/3 of the dorsal face or upper surface of the tongue. It is called specialized because the taste receptors are found in it.

In this mucosa are the lingual papillae, folds of the mucosa that project to the surface.

There are different types of papillae

• Papillae filiform they are the most numerous. Their function is mechanical and they give the tongue a velvety appearance.
• Papillae fungiforms They appear between the filiform papillae as reddish dots, due to their fine surface epithelium that allows us to appreciate the color of the vessels that irrigate them. Among these papillae we find the taste receptors. They upholster the side walls of the tongue.
• Papillae goblet they form the lingual "V" at the back of the dorsal aspect of the tongue. We can even appreciate them by looking at ourselves in the mirror andthey also have taste receptors.
• Papillae foliated they are very small and form folds and grooves arranged parallel to the lingual border.

What are taste receptors or corpuscles?

They are centers that capture taste information and are found in the specialized mucosa. They are made up of two types of cells: long and short. The long ones are arranged in the shape of a ring and the shorter cells are in the center, delimiting an opening called the gustatory pore. Food, once in the mouth, comes into contact with the taste receptor through the taste pore. For action of saliva food dissolves and they release certain chemicals called sapids. Are sapid substances they are picked up by the gustatory corpuscle. Its information is processed by our brain constituting the flavor.

The tongue has different topographic areas where the different flavors are distinguished: in the anterior zone of the tongue the sweet taste is perceived; in the later the bitter; on the front sides of the tongue the salty taste and on the back side the acid flavor. There are no specific receptors for each of these tastes.

The sense of taste is combined with the perception of smell.