Taste buds

Looks like

Microscopic clusters of sensing cells, mostly in the bumps on the tongue.

What it does

Detect sweet, salty, sour, bitter and savoury tastes.

Keeping it well

Dulled by smoking, some drugs and ageing; they renew roughly every couple of weeks. Burnt tongue recovers.

Related conditions

• Bad breath (halitosis)
• Burning mouth syndrome
• Candida & fungal infection
• Hand, foot and mouth disease
• Head and neck cancer
• Lichen planus
• Mouth ulcers (aphthous stomatitis)
• Pemphigus vulgaris
• Scarlet fever
• Stevens–Johnson syndrome / toxic epidermal necrolysis
• Tongue-tie (ankyloglossia)