Explain the anatomical concepts associated with the digestive system.

The human digestive system is a complex network of organs and glands that are responsible for breaking down food into energy and nutrients. Anatomical concepts associated with this process include the oral cavity, esophagus, stomach, small intestine, large intestine, pancreas, gallbladder and liver (Gedroic 2006). Each of these organs plays an important role in digestion.

The oral cavity is the first step in the digestive process. This area houses many structures such as teeth to chew food into smaller pieces, salivary glands to produce saliva which helps break down carbohydrates and stimulates taste buds that help detect flavors (Ersser et al. 2018). The tongue also aids in moving chewed food from the mouth to the esophagus where it enters further digestion.