Tongue Cleaning Increases the Perceived Intensity of Salty Taste.

Objective: Tongue coating, which refers to a greyish white deposit on the tongue surface, often covers the taste papillae on the dorsal tongue surface, decreasing taste sensitivity. This study investigated whether mechanical removal of the tongue coating affected the intensity of salt taste perception.

Participants: This cross-sectional single blind study included 90 subjects (29 males, 61 females) with a mean age of 45 years (range 25-70 years).