Steps in Digestion

1) The mouth- Digestion begins when food enters the mouth. Chewing begins breaking down the food. Saliva begins breaking down the carbohydrates Three salivary glands- parotid- near jaw line , submandibular-under tongue, and the sublingual glands-ducts in the floor of our mouth

2) The esophagus- Food is pushed by the tongue into the pharynx (or throat) and moves by muscle contraction from there to the esophagus. The muscle contractions in the esophagus work with gravity to push food into the stomach. This takes about 6-seconds.

Tissue called the epiglottis folds down over the larynx to keep the food from blocking it. Unless food goes down the wrong way.