What is Working of Mouth in human body?

Food enters the digestive system through the mouth, where it is processed by the teeth and mixed with saliva, prior to being swallowed. Teeth are specialized in shape to mechanically process food. The incisors, or sharp flat front teeth, cut the food; the pointed canines tear tough foods, and molars serve to grind food like a millstone.

Saliva, a mixture of water, mucus, and amylase, a carbohydrate-digesting enzyme, is mixed with the food by the action of the tongue against the hard palate, or roof of the mouth. Amylase starts to break some complex carbohydrates into the disaccharide maltose while still in the mouth. Saliva is released through a series of ducts opening from three glands located adjacent to the buccal cavity, or mouth opening. The food is moistened and lubricated so it will pass easily down the esophagus.

When food is swallowed, it passes through the pharynx, the cavity behind the mouth shared by the digestive and respiratory systems. A membrane called the epiglottis prevents food from entering the trachea and larynx. The moistened food, or bolus, passes into the esophagus, where a wave of constriction called peristalsis propels it to the stomach.