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There are four stages of

There are four stages of swallowing. Oral prep (chewing), oral (moving the bolus to be swallowed), pharyngeal (pushing it down the pharnyx, terminated when it hits the esophagus), and esophageal (finishing swallowing by pushing it to the stomach). The first two are voluntary, the other two are involuntary. The pharyngeal stage can ONLY be done in humans if there is food or liquid in the mouth. The last stage is the longest, at 8-20 seconds, the others are about 1 second each.

See, I do know things. I know a lot of things. I just can't help feeling that the things I know are really basic and that he'll be testing us on more complex things. I always feel that way...if I know it, everyone does, so I should be knowing more than I do. I wish I knew if I knew enough. I worked my ass off for this.

Posted by rina on December 10, 2001 12:15 PM |

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