ORAL CAVITY- SELECTION, GRINDING PARTICLE DIGESTION
Oral cavity is the space behind mouth and has many important function in the whole process of digestion.Food selection is one of them. When food enters oral cavity it is tasted and felt. If the taste of mutton suggest that it is old we reject it.If teeth or tongue detect some hard object such as dirt we also reject that bite. The senses of smell and vision also help oral cavity in the selection of food.
the second function of oral cavity is the grinding of food by teeth. It is known as chewing or mastication. This is useful because oesophagus can pass only small pieces. Enzymes also cannot act on large pieces of food. They require small pieces with large surface areas to attack.
The third and fourth function of oral cavity are lubrication and chemical digestion** of food. The chewing process stimulates the three pairs of salivary glands (under tongue, behind jaws, and in front of ears)to release a juice called saliva in oral cavity. Saliva adds water and mucous to food which act as lubricant to ease the passage of food through oesophagus. Saliva also contains an enzyme salivary amylase which help in the semi-digestion of starch.
During the processing of chewing lubrication and semi-digestion the pieces of food are rolled up by the tongue into small slippery spherical mass called bolus We swallow bolus and push it in oesophagus through pharynx.
Parts of oral cavity
Source of Photo
All data collected from my book of Science.
