Oral Cavity

Question 1

The soft palate is primarily composed of what?

Answer 1

Skeletal muscle

Question 2

What do the soft palate and uvula do when swallowing?

Answer 2

Elevate to close off the opening of the nasopharynx

Question 3

What do fauces of the palate represent?

Answer 3

The opening between the oral cavity and the oropharynx

Question 4

What are fauces bounded by?

Answer 4

Paired muscular folds including the glossopalatine arch (anterior fold) and pharyngopalatine arch (posterior gold)

Question 5

Where are the palatine tonsils located?

Answer 5

Between the glossopalatine and pharyngopalatine arches

Question 6

What is Waldeyer’s lymphatic ring composed of?

Answer 6

Palatine, pharyngeal and lingual tonsils

Drains to deep cervical LNs

Question 7

The tongue is an accessory digestive organ that is formed from what?

Answer 7

Skeletal muscle (which moves it) and covered with lightly keratinized stratified squamous epithelium

Question 8

What are the functions of the tongue?

Answer 8

Manipulates and mixes ingested materials during chewing
Helps compress the partially digested materials against the palate to turn these materials into a bolus
Performs important functions in swallowing

Question 9

What attaches the inferior surface of the tongue to the floor of the oral cavity?

Answer 9

The lingual frenulum

Question 10

What covers the superior (dorsal) surface of the tongue?

Answer 10

Numerous small projections known as papillae

Question 11

What does the posterior surface of the tongue contain?

Answer 11

Lingual tonsils

Question 12

When is saliva produced?

Answer 12

Most is produced during mealtime

Smaller amounts are produced continuously to ensure the oral cavity remains moist

Question 13

What makes up 99% of saliva?

Answer 13

Water

Question 14

What are the three pairs of large multicellular salivary glands?

Answer 14

Parotid, submandibular and sublingual

Question 15

What stimulates parotid salivary gland secretion?

Answer 15

Parasympathetic axons in CN IX

Question 16

What stimulates submandibular and sublingual salivary gland secretions?

Answer 16

Parasympathetic axons in CN VII

Question 17

Describe the parotid gland

Answer 17

Largest salivary gland
Located anterior and inferior to the ear partially overlying the masseter muscle
Produces about 25-30% of the saliva

Question 18

Describe saliva secretion from the parotid gland

Answer 18

Saliva production is conducted through the parotid duct to the oral cavity
Parotid duct opens into the oral vestibule next to the 2nd upper molar

Question 19

Which gland produces most of the saliva in our bodies?

Answer 19

Submandibular glands

Question 20

A duct opens from each submandibular gland through what?

Answer 20

A papilla in the floor of the mouth on the lateral sides of the lingual frenulum

Question 21

Each sublingual gland extends multiple tiny sublingual ducts that open onto what?

Answer 21

The inferior surface of the oral cavity, posterior to the submandibular duct papilla

Question 22

What are the functions of saliva?

Answer 22

Moistens ingested food and helps turn it into a semisolid bolus that is more easily swallowed
Moistens and cleanse oral cavity structures
Functions as a watery medium into which food molecules are dissolved so taste receptors can be stimulated

Question 23

What is the first step in chemical digestion?

Answer 23

Occurs when amylase in saliva begins to breakdown carbs

Question 24

What does saliva contain?

Answer 24

Abs and an antibacterial element called lysozyme that helps inhibit bacterial growth in the oral cavity

Question 25

What are teeth responsible for?

Answer 25

Ingestion and mastication, the first part of the mechanical digestion process

Question 26

A tooth has which structures?

Answer 26

An exposed crown, a constricted neck and one or more roots that anchor it to the jaw

Question 27

Roots of the teeth fit tightly into what?

Answer 27

Dental alveoli which are sockets within the alveolar processes of both the maxillae and mandible

Question 28

Collectively, the roots, dental alveoli, and periodontal ligaments that bind the roots of teeth to the alveolar processes form what type of joint?

Answer 28

Gomphosis joint

Question 29

How many sets of teeth develop and erupt during a normal lifetime?

Answer 29

Two sets

Question 30

Explain the formation of teeth at different ages

Answer 30

In an infant 20 deciduous teeth (milk teeth) erupt b/w 6 months and 30 months after birth
These teeth are eventually lost and replaced by 32 permanent teeth
More anteriorly placed permanent teeth tend to appear first followed by the posteriorly placed teeth

Question 31

What are the last teeth to erupt?

Answer 31

Third molars (often called wisdom teeth) in the late teens or early 20s 
Often the jaw lacks space to accommodate these final molars and may either emerge only partially or grow at an angle and become impacted