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Mouth

Updated: Mar 2

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  • The oral cavity, or mouth, marks the entry point of the digestive system, equipped with specialized structures for the initial processing of food.

  • Here, food encounters teeth and salivary glands, which work in concert to reduce food to a consistency suitable for digestion and absorption further down the GI tract.

Teeth

  • The Tools for Mechanical Digestion

  • Teeth are hard, calcified structures embedded in the dental arches of the mouth.

  • They are instrumental in the mechanical breakdown of food, a process known as mastication or chewing.

  • Humans have two sets of teeth over their lifetime: deciduous (baby) teeth and permanent (adult) teeth.

    Types of Teeth in Adults

Types of Teeth in Adults

Types of Teeth

1. Incisors (8 total): These are the front teeth, sharp and chiseled-shaped, designed for biting and cutting food.

2. Canines (4 total): Located next to the incisors, canines are pointed and used for tearing and ripping food.

3. Premolars (8 total): Situated next to the canines, premolars have a broader surface for crushing and grinding food.

4. Molars (12 total): These are the back teeth, equipped with large, flat surfaces ideal for grinding and pulverizing food.

Tongue of Mouth

  • The Versatile Muscular Organ

  • The tongue, a muscular organ found on the floor of the mouth, plays multiple roles in the digestive and sensory systems.

Tongue

Functions of the Tongue

1. Tasting: The surface of the tongue is studded with taste buds that allow us to discern five basic tastes: sweet, sour, salty, bitter, and umami.

2. Manipulation of Food: It assists in moving food around the mouth to ensure even mixing with saliva and effective chewing.

3. Formation of the Bolus: The tongue aids in shaping chewed food into a bolus, a compact mass ready for swallowing.

4. Swallowing: It then propels the bolus towards the pharynx, triggering the swallowing process.

Salivary Glands

  • Facilitators of Chemical Digestion

Role in Digestion

  • These glands secrete saliva, which moistens food for easier chewing and swallowing.

  • Saliva contains enzymes, such as amylase, which initiate the breakdown of carbohydrates into simpler sugars right in the mouth.

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