What is Dysphagia?
Everyone occasionally experiences trouble swallowing, like when something "goes down the wrong pipe," but people with dysphagia (dis-fay- juh) have trouble most, if not all, of the time. The term "dysphagia" refers to a swallowing disorder that involves disruptions to one or more of the three swallowing phases.
Phases
Oral (mouth)
Esophageal (food pipe)
Pharyngeal (throat)
The first phase involves the structures of the oral cavity, or mouth— the jaw, lips, teeth, cheeks, tongue, hard palate & soft palate— and their functions during feeding (a.k.a. sucking, chewing, and moving things toward your throat before you swallow). Differences or disruptions in those structures can result in oral dysphagia.
Pharyngeal (throat)
Esophageal (food pipe)
Pharyngeal (throat)
The second phase involves everything that happens in the pharynx–or throat– before, during, and after a swallow.
Before food or liquids can reach the back of your throat, the bones, cartilages, and muscles in your throat work together to seal your airway (a.k.a. trachea) while transferring food and liquids safely to the esophagus (a.k.a. food pipe). This process prevents choking and stops things from entering your lungs, which is called aspiration. Differences or disruptions in this phase are called pharyngeal dysphagia.
Esophageal (food pipe)
Esophageal (food pipe)
Esophageal (food pipe)
The final phase of swallowing begins when food or liquids move into the esophagus–the tube connecting your throat to your stomach. Everyone has trouble once in a while; sometimes, food can get stuck, come back up, or cause pain as it goes down. When someone experiences such issues all the time, they could have a medical condition involving the esophagus that caused a secondary disorder in swallowing, called esophageal dysphagia.