What are the supportive roles of tongue and teeth in digestion?« Back to Questions List

The tongue is a set of soft muscles that help move the food around the mouth. It pushes the food to the back or brings to the front depending on what activity (grinding, cutting, tearing etc) is necessary to transform the food into smaller particles. There are four types of teeth – incisors, canines, molar and pre-molar which perform these activities.

 

digestion, tongue,teeth

The incisor is used to cut food like a chisel. They have flat ends that are sharp. There are 8 incisors, four at the top and four at bottom that become the first to chew the food. Canines are the pointed teeth on either side of the incisors that tear food like a fork. There are altogether four canines on each on the side of the incisors.  

 

The pre molars are present next to canines. They help in crushing and grinding the food. There are totally eight premolars that are stronger and flat with ridges on the top. Next to pre molars are the molars. They are wider, stronger than the pre molars with more ridges. Last set of new molar develops around the age of 18 or 20. These are called the wisdom teeth. It may cause pain while it grows. Nowadays the wisdom teeth get removed by the dentists because they are only used to chew tough plants which were a part of diet during the early days.

 

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Posted by attemptnwin
Asked on September 6, 2014 7:34 am