Oral cavity gate of an entry into the communication network

For ages naso-oro-pharyngeal cavity was considered as gate of entry to living organism for air and food. In recent years, however, the thoughts have changed considerably. Several lines of evidence indicate that the oral cavity with adjacent cavities plays a pivotal role for the recognition of signals coming from the surrounding world. These signals in form of food, germs, poisonous substances are initially analyzed in oral cavity and messages are distributed by a variety of communication pathways into pertinent parts of the body. All these diverse functions are performed by anatomical structures present in the naso-oro-pharyngeal cavity. The following article describes some of the functions discovered recently.