Our mouth is full of mysteries! Let’s learn five magic mouth facts for kids.
The slimy liquid you can always feel in your mouth is called saliva. It is produced by salivary glands which are located in your mouth. Saliva moistens food, making it easier to digest and it is also full of chemicals called enzymes. Enzymes help to break down food. Your salivary glands can produce over 1 litre of saliva per day! When we smell or see good food we often say our mouth is watering, this is actually our brain sending a signal to our salivary glands to produce saliva to prepare for food digestion.
From a young age we are told that we should brush our teeth twice a day, every day. If you brush for the recommended two minutes twice a day for most of your life you will be brushing your teeth for between 70 and 80 days total! That’s a lot of time spent brushing your teeth!
When you think of your mouth’s function you automatically think about how it allows you to eat.
Your teeth break your food into smaller bits and your tongue helps you to swallow your food. However this isn’t the only thing your mouth does for you. Your mouth allows you to breathe and also to communicate. Without it we wouldn’t be able to communicate verbally.
Like fingerprints, no two tongues are the same. This is the same with how our teeth rest in our mouths and why everyone’s smiles are different. Even identical twins have different smiles and tongues. This is why detectives use dental records to identify people. It is cool to think that no one else on the Earth has your smile!
From a couple of months old until about 3 years old, you grow a full set of 20 baby teeth. These teeth then begin to fall out at around the age of 6 years old. Baby teeth fall out to make room for 32 permanent adult teeth. Some adults can also grow up to 4 wisdom teeth. We don’t actually need wisdom teeth but our ancestors did in order to properly digest their food.
Leave a Reply