BIOM20002 Lecture Notes - Lecture 50: Wisdom Tooth, Eustachian Tube, Esophagus
Document Summary
Embedded in dental arches in maxilla and mandible. Molars x3 and premolarsx2: flat surface for grinding. Wisdom teeth (3rd molars) erupt very late in life. Sometimes not enough space for them so need to be removed. Epiglottis: pushed backwards and downwards to protect airways. Thyroid cartilage: anterior part of it is the adams apple. It defines part of the laryngeal inlet that allows air through. Vocal ligament left is posterior, right is anterior. Sits on posterior lateral aspect of cricoid cartilage. Attached to vocal ligament which projects forward to back of thyroid cartilage. Causes vocal ligaments to adduct and come into midline. When covered in mucosa there are 2 folds of mucosa. Inferior fold is a fold of mucosa over vocal ligament (the vocal fold; the true vocal cord as it has role in sound production). Vestibular fold: no role in sound production but is protective. If something goes down it shields it from vocal cords.
