34. Explain the process of digestion in the buccal cavity with a note on the arrangement of teeth.
The buccal cavity performs two major functions i.e., mastication of food and facilitation of swallowing. Firstly, food gets mixed with saliva which softens and lubricates the food and cheuring process breaks the food into smaller pieces. Buccal cavity is also involved in the digestion of same food components.
Digestion of carbohydrates starts in the buccal cavity. The food is mixed with saliva which contains salivary anylase. This enzyme converts starch into maltose, isomaltose and -dextrins. 30% of the starch in food is hydorlysed in the buccal cavity.
Starch Maltose + Isomaltose + -dextrins anylase
Saliva do not any protein or fat digesting anzyme. Therefore, their digestion do not occur in the oral cavity.
The oral cavity has a number of teeth and a muscular tongue. Each tooth is embedded in a socket of jaw bone.
This type of attachement is called thecodont. The human have two sets of teeth a temporary and a permenant. This type of denotation is called diphyodont. The arrangement of teeth is illustrated below.
