Oral cavity – in the oral cavity, the teeth, the tongue and the salivary glands take part in digestion. The tongue has a very wide range of tasks: swallowing, directing food and sensing taste, and it also plays a role in speech and breathing.
The taste buds are located in the lining covering the tongue. They provide the sense of taste by means of taste receptors.
The job of our teeth is to chew and break up food, and to take part in speech. Today, cutlery also helps the teeth in their work, as food arrives in the mouth already cut into pieces.
The oral cavity– here, as food is chewed and broken up, it mixes with saliva and turns into a mass ready to be swallowed, a bolus. Our tongue pushes the bolus backwards and downwards into the throat, from where the food passes into the oesophagus.
Swallowing is a complex series of reflexes. As solid and liquid food leaves the oral cavity, it passes through the throat. The throat (pharynx) is found next to the oral cavity– behind and below it.
When we swallow, a small flap, the epiglottis, closes, preventing food or liquid from entering the windpipe (trachea) or the lungs.
The back part of the roof of the mouth (the soft palate) rises, preventing food or liquid from entering the nasal cavity. Swallowing starts voluntarily, and then continues automatically.
