Introduction to Oral Physiology

Oral Physiology

branch of dentistry that deals with FUNCTIONS of the human masticatory apparatus, the teeth

Principal functions of oral structures

• Deglutition - Digestion

• Mastication - Digestion

• Respiration - Respiration/Ventilation

• Speech - Phonation

Dental component

teeth

Neuromuscular component

Nerves of the muscles of mastication

Skeletal components

bones

Other components

blood supply and oral fluids

Gnathology

the field of dentistry that deals with the entire chewing apparatus

• deals with the masticatory apparatus as a whole

Mastication

• process by which food is crushed and ground by teeth

• first step of digestion

• increases the surface area of food

• allows more efficient breaking down of enzymes

Enzymes involved in digestion

Lipase and Amylase

Deglutition

• process where something passes through the mouth, to the pharynx, then the esophagus

• ultimately into the stomach

Epiglottis

closes the windpipe during deglutition

Soft palate

Closes the nasopharynx during deglutition

Respiration

• Process where organisms take up oxygen and discharge carbon dioxide

• satisfies the energy requirements of the organism

Speech

• Vocalized form of human communication

• based upon the syntactic combination of lexicals and names from vocabularies

• each spoken word is created out of the phonetic combination of a limited set of vowel and consonant speech sound units

Active eruption

• process where a developing tooth bodily moves through the jaw bone and overlying mucosa

• into its functional position in the oral cavity

• The tooth itself is moving

Anatomic crown

part of the crown covered by enamel

• just think anatomic = the histologic relationship

Anatomical root

part of the root covered by cementum

Clinical crown

part of the crown that is visible in the oral cavity (gross area of the tooth regardless of which tissue is seen)

Clinical root

part of the tooth embedded and covered with gingiva and not exposed to the oral cavity

Cervical line

thin line separating the anatomic crown and the anatomic root (CEJ)

Passive eruption

• process where the clinical crown of a tooth increases in size

• because of apical recession of tissues

Stage 1 of passive eruption

Junctional epithelium entirely over the enamel

Stage 2 of passive eruption

Junctional epithelium is part over the enamel and part over the cementum (half)

Stage 3 of passive eruption

Junctional epithelium is over the cementum with the coronal end at the Cemento-enamel junction

Stage 4 of passive eruption

Junctional epithelium is located apical to the CEJ (entirely under)