Notice the position of the muscles and pharynx during resting breathing:

 breathing

Notice the position of the muscles and pharynx during breathing while chewing:

What muscle contracts to elevate the base of the tongue?
breathing with food

Notice what happens during a swallow:

 swallow2

Let's look at the swallowing sequence on a series of radiographs taken as part of a video swallowing study.

  1. Chewing and moisurizing food and preparing a bolous of food for swallowing
 baseline
  1. Elevation and closure of the nasopharynx. Try to identify the position of the tongue and other muscles in the naso and oropharynx.
 elevation
  1. Moving of the bolus of food to the oropharynx. Notice the dark material moved to the oropharynx.
 bolus
  1. The dark material has moved further down the oropharynx.
  2. Constriction of the pharynx and downward forcing of the food bolous.
  3. Closure of the laynx as the food passes through the layngopharynx.
 epiglottus

Can you spot the epigottis in the above image?