Monday, June 21, 2010

What's the name of the thing that connects your top lip to your gums?


Search
: mouth connect lip gums

Why
: I don't remember. We were watching Rules of Attraction or Basic Instinct or Don't Tell Mom the Babysitter's Dead, and I got to thinkin about how much it would hurt for that thing to get cut.

Answer
: The frenulum labii superioris! A frenulum is a small fold of tissue that secures or restricts the motion of a mobile organ in the body. You have lots of them on your person (many NSFW).

The one under your tongue is called the frenulum linguae, and the one that connects your bottom lip to your gummies is called the frenulum labii inferioris. Inferioris!!
Source: Yahoo! Answers, Wikipedia

The More You Know
: According to Science Geek Girl, that diagram of the taste stations in your tongue you saw in your 7th grade Health book was just wrong.
Instead!
  • The exact distribution of sensitivity depends on the particular person doing the tasting.
  • There is a 5th taste called umami, aka "deliciousness." It’s the flavor of amino acids (like meat broth, aged cheese, or glutamate, like monosodium glutamate) which explains why things with MSG taste so good. There’s also some debate about a 6th receptor for fat.
  • Your sense of smell plays a huge role in what you taste. If you plug your nose, it can be difficult to tell the difference between a potato and an apple. That’s why things taste bland when your nose is stuffy.
  • Your taste sensations depend on the temperature of your tongue. That’s why Ben & Jerry’s serves their ice cream slightly warm in their tasting room - to enhance its sweetness.

4 comments:

  1. When I worked for Uncle Dentist we had patients who had to get that removed from their mouth. I still don't know why, but it is called a frenectomy. Google it, Carlsies!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Aahhh nooo!! My mouth filled up with blood just thinking about it!

    ReplyDelete
  3. PS don't look it up. Gag (on my mouthblood).

    ReplyDelete