Lesson 2: Mouth Sidekicks

Your teeth may be the stars of your mouth, but without a good supporting system, your mouth wouldn’t stay healthy! Your jawbone, gums, tongue, cheeks, and lips all work together with your teeth to help you chew, speak, and smile!

JAWBONE

Without your jawbone, you wouldn’t be able to chew or speak! It also plays a crucial role in holding your teeth in place, anchoring them securely.

GUMS

Your gums are the soft, pink tissue that surrounds and supports your teeth. Keep your gums healthy by brushing, flossing, and eating nutritious foods. Healthy gums should be firm and pink. Unhealthy gums, on the other hand, may look red, swollen, and can bleed when you clean them. Be sure to brush twice a day to keep your gums healthy!

TONGUE

Your tongue is made of muscles that work in different directions to perform two main actions:

Making Sounds (Talking): The tongue moves inside the mouth to form sounds. For example, the back of your tongue presses against the roof of your mouth to make the ‘G’ sound in "Goodbye" or the ‘K’ sound in "Kick."
Eating (Tasting, Chewing, and Swallowing): The flexible front of your tongue helps move food around in your mouth, allowing your teeth to chew it. The back of your tongue then pushes the chewed food to your throat to swallow it down the esophagus, a tube that carries food from your mouth to your stomach.

Did you know your tongue has around 3,000–10,000 taste buds?

CHEEKS

Your cheeks are made of skin and muscle that cover your mouth from your chin to your eyes. The muscles in your cheeks are essential for chewing, while the large salivary glands in your cheeks produce saliva, which helps break down food and makes it easier to chew and digest.

LIPS

Your lips are important for speaking, forming sounds, and making facial expressions like smiling and frowning. They are also sensitive, with many nerve endings that help with touch. Together with your cheeks, your lips can help create suction, like when you drink through a straw!