Mouth Variation
Bifid uvula
The uvula, the dangling flap at the back of the throat, is split into two lobes, in about 1 to 2% of people. On its own it is harmless, but in a baby it can be a clue to a hidden cleft of the palate.
1–2% of people
Mouth and throat
Tongue tricks, saliva, the palate, tonsils, and the throat.
Showing 17 oddities.
The mouth and throat hold an unusually flexible piece of muscle, the tongue, next to structures built for swallowing without choking. That combination produces both party tricks and everyday quirks.
Tongue rolling, tongue folding, and tongue twisting are all shapes the tongue's own muscles can be trained or born into making. Geographic tongue is a different kind of entry: a pattern of smooth patches that shifts on its own, with no trick involved. Tonsil stones form in the folds of the tonsils and need no muscle control at all.
The entries share one body part more than one mechanism. Some are things you learn to do. Some are things that simply happen to the tissue there. What they have in common is a small, busy space doing several jobs, speech, swallowing, and taste, at once.
Results narrow the list below as you type.
Mainly this region
Mouth Trick
Cloverleaf tongue
Folding the tongue into three lobes, like a clover leaf. In one Dutch study, about 15% of adults could do it. It is usually called the hardest tongue shape.
About 15% (one Dutch sample)
Mouth Reflex
Gag reflex
Touch the back of the tongue or the soft palate and the throat clamps shut. It keeps things out of the airway. About a third of healthy people have no gag reflex at all, and that is normal.
Present in about 2 of 3 people, absent in 37% in one study
Mouth Variation
Geographic tongue
Smooth red patches with pale borders that form a map on the tongue and move around over days and weeks. About 2 to 3% of people have it, and it is harmless.
2–3% of people
Mouth Trick
Gleeking
Shooting a thin jet of saliva from under the tongue. It can happen by accident, often during a yawn, or on purpose. No survey has counted how many people can do it.
No formal count Icky
Mouth Trick
Gorlin's sign
Touching the tip of your nose with your tongue. About 10% of people can do it. About half of people with Ehlers-Danlos syndrome can, so doctors use it as a quick check for stretchy connective tissue.
~10% of people Icky
Mouth Trick
Pointed tongue
Making the tip of the tongue narrow and sharp, like a pencil point. About 55% of people in one Chinese survey can do it. It and tongue rolling are the two most common tongue tricks.
~55%
Mouth Variation
Supertasters
About a quarter of people taste bitter compounds far more strongly than everyone else. They tend to have more taste buds, and they often dislike coffee, dark greens, and grapefruit.
About 25% of people
Mouth Trick
Tongue folding
Folding the tip of the tongue backward over itself inside the mouth. Studies find that between 1.5% and 27.5% of people can do it.
1.5–27.5%
Mouth Trick
Tongue rolling
Between 65% and 84% of people can curl the sides of the tongue up into a tube. For decades it was taught as a simple one-gene trait. It is not.
65–84% of people
Mouth Variation
Tongue tie
A short or tight band of tissue under the tongue that holds the tip down, present in about 1 in 14 babies. Some cannot breastfeed well, but many grow up with no trouble at all.
About 7% of babies
Mouth Trick
Tongue twisting
Turning the tongue on its side so the edges face up and down, or all the way over. Between 12% and 36% of people can twist it at least halfway.
12–36%
Mouth Involuntary
Tonsil stones
Small white or yellow lumps that form in the folds of the tonsils and sometimes come out when you cough. They smell bad and feel like something is stuck in the throat. They are usually harmless.
Up to 10% of people; up to 46% on CT scans Icky
Also involves this region
These entries belong to another region first, and touch this one too.
Nerves Involuntary
Brain freeze
A short, sharp headache in the forehead a few seconds after cold food or drink touches the roof of the mouth. It usually passes in under a minute.
About 40–50% of people
Skin Involuntary
Fordyce spots
Tiny pale yellow or white bumps, 1 to 3 mm across, on the edge of the lips or inside the cheeks. They are ordinary oil glands in a place without hair. Most adults have them.
70–80% of adults
Bones Variation
Torus palatinus
A hard bony lump along the midline of the roof of the mouth that grows slowly and is completely harmless. Many people find it by chance and worry that it is a tumour.
About 20% of people
Organs Trick
Voluntary burping
Swallowing air on purpose and letting it back up as a belch. Nobody has counted how many people can do it. The loudest recorded burp reached 112.4 decibels.
No formal count