The mouth

📖 In short

The mouth is a very important part of your body. You eat, drink, talk, smile, sing and sometimes breathe with it. Lots of things work together in it: lips, teeth, tongue and saliva.

🤩 Did you know?

Your mouth makes a lot of saliva every day, which helps you swallow.
The roof of the mouth has a hard part at the front and a soft part at the back.
The tongue is covered in little bumps that hold the taste buds.
The first thing a baby does when it's born is open its mouth and cry!

🔎 Find out more

🌟 Lips

Lips help you take in food, drink water and keep your mouth closed while you chew, and they help you say many sounds, like “b” and “m”.

🔍 Teeth

Your mouth has two rows of teeth: the sharp front ones cut food, the canines tear it, and the wide molars at the back grind it until it's soft and easy to swallow.

💡 The tongue

The tongue is a strong, flexible muscle that moves food around the mouth and pushes it to the throat. It tastes sweet, salty, sour and bitter, and helps you talk.

🎯 Keeping your mouth clean

Brush your teeth with toothpaste morning and evening, gently clean your tongue, drink water and eat fewer sweets, so your mouth stays healthy and smells nice.