GULP--a brief late night romp through your mouth

So...


You ever watch yourself swallow in a mirror? Seriously, go do it the next time you brush your teeth. It's weird. And while you are reading this try and swallow, right now. Do it. Notice how your tongue moves in the back of your throat as you attempt to swallow sans proper lubrication. It's like a little sea cucumber inside your head.

That's grotesque. So sorry. I should give my tongue more respect. After all my tongue lets me taste delightful treats and verbalize my thoughts, amazing what a 10cm muscle can do (that's 4 inches for you non-metric types). And in exchange for its incredible functions all my tongue needs in return is the ability to make me cringe if I bite it, or burn it, or go too long without brushing my teeth (a rare occurrence, anyone who knows me knows I do enjoy a good teeth brushing).
 

Some facts about the mechanism of swallowing: (you can just scroll down now and look and some fun animal pictures, or you could take a moment out of your day and learn a little bit more about your body-no pressure or anything). There are three phases to swallowing: ORAL, PHARYNGEAL, and ESOPHAGEAL. Swallowing in scientific terms is deglutition and the proper execution of this action will result in goodies traveling from your mouth to your pharynx to esophagus to your happy tummy, and so on. Failure in this endeavor results in food going to the trachea then embarrassing coughing, or choking, which is just no good. But you knew that already.

So when you take that bite of apple, cheese, or whatever edible treasure you've decided to ingest the morsel begins in your mouth where saliva mixes with the food and you masticate. You masticate hard. Food then forms a bolus (a ball-shaped mass) and proceeds to the back of the tongue where a trough forms in the muscle from front to back against the hard palate. If the bolus is too dry- not enough saliva-it will not be swallowed (why you just can't eat all those Saltines without some water on the side). From the back of the mouth the food bolus moves along the palate and into the esophageal passage with the help of muscles in the back of the tongue. From there on reflex takes over for a moment while the muscles scattered over the base of the tongue provoke the next phase. At the onset of the pharyngeal phase all chewing, breathing, and coughing functions are inhibited. You can't breathe while swallowing. You just can't, so stop trying. The soft palate becomes tense as the pharynx pulls upwards and forwards as it prepares to receive the bolus, like a garage door opening to allow a tiny food bowling ball on it's path down the driveway. I'm sorry, that was an incredibly odd way of illustrating that process, which most likely didn't need to be illustrated in the first place. Maybe you should just scroll down. As the pharynx pull up, the side walls contract so that only a smaller bolus can pass. Small bites people. Chew well, or you'll hurt yourself. As a consequence of swallowing the auditory tube opens, equalizing the pressure in the middle ear and the nasopharynx. (This is why they tell you to swallow continuously as your airplane takes off). A series of muscles then contract to help the food bolus travel down the esophagus, gravity has little to do with this process. In the final phase the sphincter (such a hilarious word) relaxes so food can pass through eventually reaching the stomach. From there stuff happens, nutrients are absorbed, food is broken down and makes its way elsewhere. You can piece it all together I'm sure. Swallowing begins as a voluntary act, but once you start, you can't stop. For real, your muscles take over and you can't exactly tell them no, now, can you? [On a completely unrelated note: yes, I like to use commas, deal with it.]

So to conclude this mini-musing on your lovely, weird tongue and swallowing, please enjoy the following images.