The mouth is a very efficient part of the head and contains parts most essential to everyday living. These include the teeth, which are perfectly adapted to the kind of food we eat.
As the mouth closes on a bite of food, chewing immediately begins. The tongue quickly becomes active, moving the food from side to side and gradually working it back from the sharp front teeth (incisors and cuspids) to the bicuspids and finally to the molars, which finish the chewing process. All this time saliva has been added to the food, so that when the food is ready to be swallowed, it is also moist enough to safely pass into the throat and then on down to the stomach.
At the back of the mouth where the nasal passage opens into the throat, there could be danger of the tongue pushing food up into that airway, which could cause problems. However, the Creator designed a separation, called the palate, which prevents this from happening. This palate actually forms the roof of the mouth. At the front it is hard and rigid, but in the back it is soft and elastic.
Another precaution against food going the wrong way after it has been chewed is a safety valve (uvula) attached to the soft palate and hanging down. When swallowing, this, along with the soft palate, blocks off the entrance to the rear nasal passage, preventing food or liquid from going the wrong way.
On either side of the uvula are the tonsils. These help destroy harmful bacteria that have entered the body.
Your lips are the first to touch food entering your mouth. They are very sensitive and help signal if something may be too hot or cold. They are important to speech and singing, as well as visually showing the kind of mood you may be in - cheerful, sad, frightened or surprised. The tongue, which covers the whole floor of your mouth, is the main organ of taste and decides whether something is sweet, sour, bitter, salty or tasteless.
Doesn’t it seem strange that with both the nose and mouth having such important functions, we scarcely ever think about them? How good the Creator has been to provide these parts that continue to function automatically each day, with rarely a conscious thought from us. Who but God could form each part of our bodies in such wonderful ways?
“Know ye that the Lord He is God: it is He that hath made us, and not we ourselves. . . . Enter into His gates with thanksgiving, and into His courts with praise: be thankful unto Him, and bless His name” (Psalm 100:34).
(to be continued)
ML-05/13/2001