Salivary Glands

The tongue is made up of a few tiny, dispersed glands. They come in three different varieties:

• Sublingual Glands: The tongue has glands called sublingual glands. Hundreds of tiny glands are also present. These glands produce saliva (spit), which they then release through duct-like apertures into the mouth. Food becomes moist due to saliva, which facilitates chewing, swallowing, and food digestion.
• Submaxillary Gland: It begins with Wharton’s duct, which is located on the sides of the tongue’s frenulum, on the floor of the mouth.
• Mucous and Serous Glands: The mucous gland secretes a firm, viscous secretion that contains mucin, which is mostly engaged in lubrication, while the serous gland secretes a thin, watery secretion that contains zymogens, antibodies, and inorganic ions that are principally involved in digestion and defense.
• Lymph Nodes: The submental nodes get drainage from the tongue’s tip. The posterior one-third of the tongue drains to the jugulo-omohyoid nodes, while the left and right half of the anterior two-thirds of the tongue drain to submandibular lymph nodes.

Tongue is a movable, flexible organ with muscles found on the floor of the mouth of most vertebrates. It is the major organ of taste and manipulates food for chewing and swallowing as part of the digestive process.  It is coated by mucosa, a wet, pink tissue. It takes part in licking, tasting, breathing, swallowing, and speaking. The rough texture of the tongue is due to the presence of papillae. It is covered by a variety of taste buds. The tongue has many nerves that aid in the transmission of taste information to the brain and hence aid in taste sensation. Old English ‘tunge’, which descended from Proto-Germanic ‘tungōn’, is where the word tongue first appeared.