The Tongue :
The tongue is a fleshy sensitive organ in the mouth covered with soft mucosa. Thousands of taste buds are present in the tongue. The main function of the tongue is to help in chewing/swallowing food and in aiding speech. Several muscles present in the tongue are responsible for swallowing and talking. The tongue has another distinctive function namely “taste”. Nerve cells present in the tongue are connected to the brain to sense the kind of food present in the mouth and its taste.
Parestheisa :
Paresthesia is a peculiar sensation of numbness and tingling feeling. This kind of abnormal feeling can occur in hands, legs and in any part of the body. This is described as “pins and needles” and prickling sensation. Sensations of pressure and temperature are at its peak in the tongue when compared with skin. If the tingling sensation affects the sense of taste it is described as dysgeusia. In case the peculiar sensation causes burning pain or numbness feeling or tingling sensation it is known as paresthesia. Since nerves are responsible for carrying any sensation to the brain the nerve receptors are affected largely due to paresthesia. Certain parts of the brain are vital in processing the signals received from the tongue. The taste receptors generate electrical impulse when exposed to certain stimuli which would travel through the path of lingual nerve reaching specific parts of the brain for decoding.
That is how one can feel any sense of taste like sweetness, bitterness or sourness. When these taste receptors are subjected to intense pressure due to stimuli it can generate high degree of electrical impulses enough to collapse the taste receptors which gives the feeling of tingling or burning sensation. Any problem with the nerve receptors gives wrong signal to the brain. Sometimes nerve receptors get stimulated even without any stimulus giving a sense of heat, cold or pressure. Tingling or prickling feeling can be felt due to problems in the nerve receptors. Nerve might have got damaged or inflamed or even compressed causing such sensations. Wrong signals are sent to the brain which perceives it as tingling feeling or numbness depending on the intensity of electrical impulse generated. Parestheisa in the tongue can be described as tingling sensation or prickling feeling. For some people it triggers such feeling suddenly even without any specific stimulus. Some people may not feel anything giving a numb feeling and they will not be able to sense specific tastes due to damaged taste receptors.