National Dental Assisting Examining Board (NDAEB) Practice Exam

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Prepare for the National Dental Assisting Exam with comprehensive quiz questions, including multiple choice and detailed explanations. Equip yourself for success!

Each practice test/flash card set has 50 randomly selected questions from a bank of over 500. You'll get a new set of questions each time!

Practice this question and more.

Where are the receptors for the taste of sweet located?

On the sides of the tongue
On the back of the tongue
On the tip of the tongue
Throughout the throat

The correct answer is: On the tip of the tongue

The receptors for the taste of sweet primarily reside on the tip of the tongue. This area is particularly sensitive to sweetness and plays a crucial role in the initial detection of sweet flavors. The taste buds located on the tip of the tongue are specialized for recognizing specific taste modalities, including sweet, sour, salty, bitter, and umami. The anatomical arrangement of the tongue's papillae contributes to this distribution of taste sensations. The fungiform papillae, which are found mainly on the tip and sides, contain taste buds that are responsive to sweet stimuli. Thus, when consuming sweet foods, the receptors at the tip of the tongue are predominantly activated, leading to the perception of sweetness. Understanding this distribution is important for anyone studying taste sensation and its physiological basis.