<P> The roof of the mouth is termed the palate and it separates the oral cavity from the nasal cavity . The palate is hard at the front of the mouth since the overlying mucosa is covering a plate of bone; it is softer and more pliable at the back being made of muscle and connective tissue, and it can move to swallow food and liquids . The soft palate ends at the uvula . The surface of the hard palate allows for the pressure needed in eating food, to leave the nasal passage clear . The lips are the mouth's front boundary and the fauces (the passageway between the tonsils, also called the throat), mark its posterior boundary . </P> <P> At either side of the soft palate are the palatoglossus muscles which also reach into regions of the tongue . These muscles raise the back of the tongue and also close both sides of the fauces to enable food to be swallowed . Mucus helps in the mastication of food in its ability to soften and collect the food in the formation of the bolus . </P> <P> There are three pairs of main salivary glands and between 800 and 1,000 minor salivary glands, all of which mainly serve the digestive process, and also play an important role in the maintenance of dental health and general mouth lubrication, without which speech would be impossible . The main glands are all exocrine glands, secreting via ducts . All of these glands terminate in the mouth . The largest of these are the parotid glands--their secretion is mainly serous . The next pair are underneath the jaw, the submandibular glands, these produce both serous fluid and mucus . The serous fluid is produced by serous glands in these salivary glands which also produce lingual lipase . They produce about 70% of the oral cavity saliva . The third pair are the sublingual glands located underneath the tongue and their secretion is mainly mucous with a small percentage of saliva . </P> <P> Within the oral mucosa (a mucous membrane) lining the mouth and also on the tongue and palates and mouth floor, are the minor salivary glands; their secretions are mainly mucous and are innervated by the facial nerve (the seventh cranial nerve). The glands also secrete amylase a first stage in the breakdown of food acting on the carbohydrate in the food to transform the starch content into maltose . There are other glands on the surface of the tongue that encircle taste buds on the back part of the tongue and these also produce lingual lipase . Lipase is a digestive enzyme that catalyses the hydrolysis of lipids (fats). These glands are termed Von Ebner's glands which have also been shown to have another function in the secretion of histatins which offer an early defense (outside of the immune system) against microbes in food, when it makes contact with these glands on the tongue tissue . Sensory information can stimulate the secretion of saliva providing the necessary fluid for the tongue to work with and also to ease swallowing of the food . </P>

Where is saliva produced in the digestive system
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