Functions Of Stomatognathic System

Functions Of Stomatognathic System

Functions of Stomatognathic System:

• Mastication
• Deglutition
• Respiration
• Speech.

stomatognathic system

“Importance of the stomatognathic system in daily life”

Mastication

Mastication is divided into two parts, i.e.

• Infant feeding, i.e. before teeth eruption.
• Mature or adult mastication, i.e. after teeth eruption.

Infant Feeding:

• Infants have their food by suckling which is an automatic reflex.
• In infants both suckling as well as swallowing occur together as suckle-swallow, this is characterized by caving in the cheeks, bobbing of the hyoid bone, extended head with anterior mandibular thrust and elongated tongue, with lips pursed around the nipple.

“Components and functions of the stomatognathic system explained”

Moyers Lists the Features of the Infantile Swallow as:

• Infantile swallow is guided by the lips and tongue.
• Jaws are apart with the tongue placed between the gum pads.
• Mandible is positioned by muscles of the facial expression.

Various Types of Infant Feeding are:

• Breastfeeding: Milk is directed to the pharynx due to peristaltic movement of the tongue.
• Botte feeding: Milk is directly expelled inside the mouth.
• Spoon feeding:
  • Lips are sealed around the edge of spoon to draw food into the mouth.
  • Tongue passes the bolus of food to swallowing between gum pads and erupting teeth.
  • Mature swallowing patterns are observed usually by 18 months of age.

“Impact of the stomatognathic system on facial expressions”

Adult Mastication:

Mastication is defied as the reduction of food in size, changing in consistency, mixing it with saliva and forming into a bolus suitable for swallowing.

Features of adult swallow are:

• Teeth should remain together.
• Mandible should be stabilized through muscles of mastication.

“Pathophysiology of stomatognathic dysfunction explained”

The six stages of mastication as outlined by Murphy:

• Preparatory phase: In this phase ingested food is positioned by the tongue. Now the mandible moves towards the chewing side.
• Food contact phase: As ingestion of food is completed, there occurs a momentary pause in chewing. This is because sensory receptors recognizing the consistency of food.
• Crushing phase: Crushing of the ingested food begins with high velocity and afterwards it slows down.
• Tooth contact phase: As 4-5 strokes of crushing phase get completed, tooth contact occur with change in direction of chewing.
• Grinding phase: In this phase unilateral chewing of food particles occur. While grinding vigorously contact of the maxillary and mandibular molars happens.
• Centric occlusion: This is the last stage now the movement of the teeth comes to an end. After this stage, preparatory stage of the next stroke of mastication begins.

“Signs of dysfunction in the stomatognathic system”

Deglutition

Deglutition is the act or process of swallowing. Fletcher divided the deglutition pattern into four stages:

• Preparatory phase: This phase begins as soon as food is ingested. In this phase bolus is placed in swallow preparatory position and sealing of mouth is done by lips or tongue.
• Oral phase: During oral phase soft palate pull upward and tongue drops downward and backward. Larynx and hyoid shift upward. Muscles of mastication actively stabilizes food. A smooth path is formed for the bolus and solid food is pushed by the tongue and liquid food flows down.
• Pharyngeal phase: It starts as the bolus of food passes through the faucial pillars. Nasopharynx get closed and tongue as well as hyoid bone move forwards.
• Esophageal phase: During this stage food passes via cricopharyngeal sphincter through esophagus to stomach.

“Symptoms of stomatognathic system disorders”

Respiration

• Physiologic respiration is the process by which living organisms capture and excrete the gaseous fuel and waste of cellular respiration. In this oxygen get absorbed and carbon dioxide get disposed.
• Mouth and nose combination forms the anatomic beginning of respiratory system.
• Patency of airway in nose as well as oral cavity is maintained by bony skeleton and adaptive posture of tongue.
• In pharynx patency is again dependent on the tone of the muscles of tongue, soft palate and pharyngeal walls.
• Second opening of larynx and closure of epiglotts prevent food from entering the airway.
• Development of respiratory spaces and maintenance of oral and pharyngeal airway space contributes to growth of orofacial bones.

functions of stomatognathic system

“Treatment options for stomatognathic dysfunction”

Speech

• Speech is basically a learned behavior.
• Lips, tongue and velopharyngeal structures modify the outgoing breathing stream to produce different variations in speech.
• Four functional subsystems interact in production of speech. The systems are:
  • Respiration: Through this larynx generates speech and voice.
  • Phonation: This leads to sound and production.
  • Resonators: They provide quality to the voice.
  • Articulation: It helps in the production of different sounds.
• So speech production is the coordinated action and accurate muscle activity.
• If an articulating structure is affected speech can be affected.