What Is the Fastest Healing Part of the Body?

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The fastest healing part of the body is the tongue. This is due to the rich supply of blood the tongue receives, making it able to heal twice as fast as any other part of the body. This includes taste buds, which is why someone can burn taste buds eating hot food and later be able to taste perfectly fine because the taste buds have quickly healed.

Another reason for the quick recovery of taste buds is that the mouth is constantly replenishing taste buds. Over a period of ten days, the tongue’s basal cells mature and regenerate, moving toward the top of the individual taste bud. Once it reaches the top, however, it only lasts a few hours before being washed away by saliva inside the mouth.

Most damage to the tongue caused by eating hot foods will be healed in two days or less, after which the individual sense of taste is also restored. Hot foods will rarely cause more than first-degree burns to the tongue, and only in the event of absolutely scalding liquid or food, such as hot oil or steam.

The tongue’s recovery time may be slowed down if the individual consumes citrus fruits and juices because they may exacerbate the existing damage to the tongue.