Probe expands understanding of oral cavity homeostasis

Your mouth is a crucial interface between the outside world and the inside of your body. Everything you breathe, chew, or drink interacts with your oral cavity—the proteins and the microbes, including microbes that can ...

Female urinary tract lactobaccilli can kill pathogenic bacteria

Lactobacilli that live in the human female urinary tract's microbiome are competitive and kill nearby pathogenic bacteria, according to the first study of its kind by a team led by microbiologist Dr. Tanya Sysoeva of The ...

Prehistoric shark hid its largest teeth

Early sharks that lived 300 to 400 million years ago not only dropped their lower jaws downward but rotated them outward when opening their mouths. This enabled them to make the best of their largest, sharpest and inward-facing ...

Reinterpreting the fossil record on jaws

Scientists use the fossil record to make judgments on the physiology and behavior of species. But are those interpretations correct? New research from a team of researchers led by Matthew Ravosa, professor of biology and ...

Wapiti whistles sound like Ringwraith shrieks

For a majestic animal that looks equally at home as the monarch of the glen or astride the great American Plains, the wapiti's call is somewhat disconcerting. Sounding more like the shrieking cries of a Lord of the Rings ...

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Mouth

The mouth, buccal cavity, or oral cavity is the first portion of the alimentary canal that receives food and begins digestion by mechanically breaking up the solid food particles into smaller pieces and mixing them with saliva. The oral mucosa is the mucous membrane epithelium lining the inside of the mouth.

In addition to its primary role as the beginning of the digestive system, in humans the mouth also plays a significant role in communication. While primary aspects of the voice are produced in the throat, the tongue, lips, and jaw are also needed to produce the range of sounds included in human language. Another non-digestive function of the mouth is its role in secondary social and/or sexual activity, such as kissing. The physical appearance of the mouth and lips play a part in defining sexual attractiveness.

The mouth is normally moist, and is lined with a mucous membrane. The lips mark the transition from mucous membrane to skin, which covers most of the body.

This text uses material from Wikipedia, licensed under CC BY-SA