What is the connection between the digestive system and the mouth?
The connection between the digestive system and the mouth is that the mouth is where the first phase of digestion occurs. The ancestor component, mouth is a place where chewing or physical disintegration of food is chewed. It is also a place where digestive enzymes through saliva start chemical disintegrations of food. Therefore, the concepts of the digestive system and the mouth can be interchangeably used in discussing where foods enter the gastrointestinal tract.
In the digestive system, the consumed food is converted into usable energy known as calories through a combination of physical and chemical processes. Physical processes disrupt food into smaller pieces that can travel more easily through the gastrointestinal tract, and chemical processes break down food on the molecular level so that its nutrients can be absorbed by the body. In various organs of the digestive system and in the mouth, both processes take place in parallel.
The first part of the digestive tract is known as Foregut. Includes mouth, esophagus, stomach and part of the first thin segmentThe intestines known as the duodenum, as well as additional digestive organs such as liver, abdominal and gallbladder, organs that further contribute to the disintegration of food fluids or nutrient transport. The mouth is the part of the above, in which the physical and chemical processes of digestion begin.
When the food is placed in the mouth, the salivary glands immediately secrete saliva, a pure lubricating liquid of the mouth. Among its multiple functions in the digestive system and mouth, including protection of both from harmful bacteria, saliva contains compounds known as enzymes. These enzymes begin with a process known as catabolism, chemically breaking out nutrients in foods such as starch and fat into their molecular components. Catabolism begins in the mouth, but most of the process is not completed until partially fissioned food reaches the small intestine.
The physical disintegration of food that occurs throughout the digestive system and in the mouth is initiated by the chewby eating. Also known as chewing, using teeth to break food into smaller pieces makes swallowing easier. This process also creates a larger surface area for enzymes in saliva to act on food. By tearing, grinding or crushing, the teeth decompose food, which then mixes the saliva in the mouth to form a substance known as the bolus, which can be swallowed and supplied through the esophagus to the stomach.