29/04/2021 Chapter-02 : Nutrition in Animals

The mouth and buccal cavity : Food is taken into the body through the mouth.
This process is called ingestion. In the mouth the food is broken down into
smaller pieces by the teeth. The mouth has salivary glands which secrete saliva.
The saliva breaks down starch into sugars. The tongue helps to mix the food
with saliva and swallow the food.
Tongue : The tongue has taste buds to detect different tastes of food. The
different regions of the tongue detect different tastes.

Teeth : There are four types of teeth. They are incisors, canines, premolars and
molars.

Arrangement of teeth and different type of teeth

Teeth are one of the strongest parts of the human body. It is mainly composed
of proteins (collagen) and minerals (calcium). An adult will have 32 teeth,
including the Wisdom teeth. Molars are the first permanent teeth to develop in,
and most of the adults will have their complete set of permanent teeth in
place by the age of 21.
Overall adults have 32 teeth in total, called permanent or secondary teeth, and
it includes:
Eight incisors   – Four incisors in the upper jaw and four incisors in the lower
jaw.

Four canines  –  Two canines in the upper jaw and two canines in the lower
jaw.

Eight premolars–   Four premolars in the upper jaw and four premolars in the
lower jaw.

Twelve molars- Six molars in the upper jaw and six in the lower jaw. It also
includes four wisdom teeth.

Types of Teeth in Humans

Teeth have different shapes as each tooth has a particular role to perform during
mastication (chewing) and eventually digestion. They are also positioned
differently, so as to better serve their purpose.
There are four different types of teeth in humans. Listed below are the form and
functions of types of human teeth:
Incisors are present at the front of the mouth. These teeth have
Incisors sharp edges and are adapted for cutting food into small,
chewable pieces.

Canines are also called cuspids. They are situated at the

Canines ‘corners’ of the dental arches. They are characteristically
sharp, elongated and pointy surface. Their primary function is
to grip and tear food (tough food such as meat).
Premolars are also called bicuspids and are located behind the
Premolar canines.  These teeth have a flat surface with ridges, which is
s adapted for crushing and grinding food into smaller portions.

Molars are the largest and strongest teeth. It has a large and

Molars flat biting surface, which is well-adapted for grinding food.
 The food pipe (oesophagus) : The food pipe passes along the neck and chest.
The swallowed food is pushed down by the movement of the walls of the food
pipe into the stomach.
The stomach : The stomach secretes digestive juices, hydrochloric acid and
mucous. The digestive juices break down proteins. Hydrochloric acid makes the
medium acidic and kills bacteria which enter along with the food. Mucous
protects the walls of the stomach from the acid.