The function of the mouth in the human digestive system
The mouth is the first organ in the digestive system, and it is a cavity in which the teeth and the tongue exist, and the salivary glands are opened, The function of the mouth is cutting and grinding the food by the teeth, and It digests the starch into the sugar.
The teeth
The number of teeth is 32 in adults, They exist in two jaws which are the upper jaw and the lower jaw, and each jaw has 16 teeth divided into 10 molars (4 premolars and 6 molars), four incisors, and two canines.
The function of the four incisors and two canines is cutting and tearing the food into small pieces, and the ten molars grind the food to make its swallowing easy.
The milk teeth are weak and formed through the childhood phase and their number is 20 teeth, where each jaw have ten teeth.
The milk teeth are completely replaced by strong ones before the age of twelve, and they are divided into 4 incisors, 2 canines, and 4 molars.
The tongue
The tongue is an organ that has several functions. It is the speech organ as it changes the sound coming from the larynx into understandable words.
The tongue mixes the food with the saliva to help in food swallowing, The tongue moves the food around inside the mouth cavity, and it is responsible for tasting the food.
The salivary glands
There are three pairs of salivary glands, they secrete saliva liquid that contains digestive substances (the enzymes) that digest the starch into the simple substances called sugar.
The enzymes are the digestive substances that digest the food and convert it into simple substances.
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Digestion in man, Buccal digestion and Gastric digestion (digestion in Stomach)
Small intestine, Absorption of digested food, Metabolism, Large intestine and defecation
