• Question: why does your tongue heal quickly

    Asked by 11hobsonp to Daniela, Hannah, Ian, Jono, Mark on 21 Jun 2013.
    • Photo: Jono Bone

      Jono Bone answered on 21 Jun 2013:

      Hi 11hobsonp,

      Good question!

      The mouth is mostly mucous tissue, rather than skin so structurally it is not very complicated, enabling it to repair itself faster.
      Also, mucous tissue is highly vascular, very rich in blood vessels. Therefore tons of nutrients and oxygen and repair factors can get carried swiftly to the site that has been damaged.

    • Photo: Ian Wilson

      Ian Wilson answered on 21 Jun 2013:

      Hi 11hobsonp,

      Great question! All of the nutrients and molecules needed to repair cuts and wounds etc are in the bloodstream. Your tongue has a LOT of blood vessels in it – far more than in the skin. This means that more of the repair factors are delivered to cuts on the tongue faster than they would be delivered to cuts on, say, your arm. If more of the repair factors are there, the cut will be healed faster.

      It also helps that saliva contains a fair few antibacterial molecules, which keep any cuts on your tongue cleaner than a cut on your arm might be. If a wound is clean, it will heal faster.

      Hope that answers your question,

      Ian

    • Photo: Mark Hodson

      Mark Hodson answered on 22 Jun 2013:

      Hi 11hobsonp,

      excellent question. I have no idea so good to hear why from Ian and Jono.

      I do know that giraffes have bluish purple tongues, most likely to protect them from sun burn.

      Earthworms don’t have tongues!

      cheers

      m

    • Photo: Hannah Brotherton

      Hannah Brotherton answered on 23 Jun 2013:

      Hi 11hobsonp,
      The tongue is the strongest muscle in our body!!!
      Which I still find really hard to believe..but its true, this is because it never rests, it is always moving….when we eat, speak, drink. Because of this, it has a huge amount of veins and blood going to it.

      So my tongue must be really strong, with all the talking and eating I do 😛

      So because of the huge amount of blood and veins, if we injure our tongue, all the good cells that help repair our body, get to the tongue really really quickly. This lets the tongue repair itself in super fast time.

      so the more you talk, the stronger your tongue, the blood it has in it, the quicker it heals.

      I knew being a chatterbox would pay off lol

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