ANATOMY

Detailed explanation-1: -The incisors, located in the middle front of the lower and upper jaws, cut and gnaw pieces of food. The molars, in the back of the mouth, grind and chew.

Detailed explanation-2: -Mouth. The digestive process starts in your mouth when you chew. Your salivary glands make saliva, a digestive juice, which moistens food so it moves more easily through your esophagus into your stomach. Saliva also has an enzyme that begins to break down starches in your food.

Detailed explanation-3: -bolus, food that has been chewed and mixed in the mouth with saliva. Chewing helps to reduce food particles to a size readily swallowed; saliva adds digestive enzymes, water, and mucus that help chemically to reduce food particles, hydrate them for taste, and lubricate them for easy swallowing.

Detailed explanation-4: -Mechanical digestion in the oral cavity consists of grinding of food into smaller pieces by the teeth, a process called mastication. Chemical digestion in the mouth is minor but consists of salivary amylase (ptyalin, or alpha-amylase) and lingual lipase, both contained in the saliva.

Detailed explanation-5: -Mastication is defined as the act of chewing food (Fig. 8-2). It represents the initial stage of digestion. During mastication, the food bolus is broken down into small particles for ease of swallowing.