One day, I sadly confess, I was having an epic toe battle with both of my feet. Both sides were tying, the game was getting extreme, and at the high point of the game, the winning toe sent the other flying into my mouth, and I ended up biting my lip, not enough to bleed, but enough for it to hurt for a few seconds. I noticed after that, my saliva started to taste salty. But seriously, I am curious as to why your mouth sometimes tastes salty after you hurt it (whether or not you were being an idiot in doing so). At first, I thought it was because blood tasted salty, but I’ve had a few times where it didn’t bleed, and it was my saliva that tasted salty.
Sorry, let me reword my question: Why do wounds in your mouth taste salty even though they don’t bleed?
I’m just speculating here:
- If you scrape your cheek or gum, it may weep some serous fluid (from serum, similar to the fluid in a blister) even if it doesn’t bleed. This would taste as salty as blood.
- It seems that if you run your tongue over the outer surfaces of your teeth or the outer gums or adjoining cheek areas, it tastes salty even if you have no injury. This might be because saliva collects in those areas and partially dries and becomes more concentrated and therefore more salty. With a wound, you tend to run your tongue over the wounded area.