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When you touch hot food with your hands, your skin is very sensitive to temperature changes and can detect heat quickly, making the food feel very hot. The inside of your mouth has different kinds of nerve endings and a layer of saliva that helps to spread the heat, making it feel less intense.
that is because your mouth’s skin temperature is higher than your hand’s, therefore the receptors that percieve heat and cold are more and less sensitive. that is also the reason why if you have very cold feet and get in the shower you may feel your feet burning while the rest of your body feels normal
The tissue on your tongue is a lot more sensitive. It have basically the highest density of nerves of any part of your body and it doesn’t develop callouses the way your hands do. This is require to make it sensitive to taste, and also to be able to feel the food in your mouth so you don’t choke on it. People that have strokes and develop aphasia (the inability to speak) or slurred speech become a major risk for aspiration.
You also have an esophagus (the tube that leads to your stomach) that’s also very sensitive tissue and if you have a bleed there it can be really bad so you don’t want to burn that area. For this purpose, it makes sense that the tongue is sensitive to heat so that if you ingest something that’s too hot, you’ll realize it before it reaches your esophagus.
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