mouth
Enable an agent to recognise an animal mouth, record its anatomical and functional state, and judge which observations or interactions are appropriate for the organism concerned.
Bundle → Layer → Finding → Questions Filled
6 bundles · 11 layers · 18 findings · 28 questions
Oral identity and boundaries Establishes what anatomical region the word mouth denotes for this organism.
Organism and reference
Anchors mouth identity to an individual and an anatomical reference.
Anatomical context
Record the organism, life stage, and reference supporting identification of its mouth.
- To which organism and life stage does this mouth belong? definition
- Which anatomical reference supports identifying this structure as the mouth? provenance
Aperture and cavity
Separates the external opening from any associated internal oral space.
Oral region limits
Declare the included region and its transitions into neighbouring structures.
- Does this record describe the oral opening, an oral cavity, or both? boundary
- Which landmarks mark its external margins and transition into the next digestive region? boundary
Oral structures and motion Describes the structures forming the mouth and how they open, close, and move.
Structural arrangement
Maps oral margins, surfaces, and associated structures without assuming a human pattern.
Present oral components
Record structures actually present and distinguish anatomical absence from incomplete observation.
- Which structures form the oral margins and occupy or line the oral region? definition
- Which apparently missing structures are confirmed absent, and which were simply not visible? boundary
Opening and closure
Captures the geometry and coordination of oral movement.
Observed mouth mobility
Describe opening and closure using explicit landmarks and observation conditions.
- What opening extent was observed, between which landmarks and in what posture? measurement
- Can the mouth close and perform its usual movements, and what limitations were observed? measurement
Food entry and oral processing Tracks the mouth's contribution to acquiring food and passing it onward.
Acquisition and retention
Describes how food or fluid enters and remains within the oral region.
Intake mechanism
Record supported intake mechanisms and demonstrated success under stated conditions.
- By what observed or documented mechanism does food or fluid enter this mouth? definition
- Under what food, fluid, and posture conditions was successful intake or loss of material observed? measurement
Processing and transfer
Separates oral manipulation from downstream digestive events.
Oral handling sequence
Describe processing that occurs within the mouth and evidence for onward transfer.
- What manipulation or processing occurs within this oral region, if any? definition
- Where does material leave the mouth's defined boundary, and what evidence shows successful transfer? boundary
Sensation and other oral functions Records sensory roles and functions beyond feeding when supported for the organism.
Oral sensation
Locates sensory functions and preserves the distinction between reports and responses.
Sensory capacity evidence
Record evidence for oral sensation without interpreting every response as a particular subjective experience.
- Which sensory functions are documented for structures in this mouth? provenance
- Is the recorded sensation based on an individual's report, an observed response, or a measurement? measurement
Airflow and signalling
Identifies oral participation in breathing, sound modification, or visible signalling where applicable.
Nonfeeding functional role
Distinguish the mouth's contribution from functions owned by connected organs or behavioural models.
- What evidence supports this mouth's participation in airflow, sound modification, or display? provenance
- Which part of that function occurs in the mouth, and which depends on structures or behaviours outside it? boundary
Oral condition and examination Organises local condition observations and the constraints on obtaining further evidence.
Local condition
Records visible changes and reported discomfort at identifiable oral locations.
Located condition observations
Describe oral findings by location, time, and observation method without assigning an unsupported cause.
- Where are changes in surface integrity, moisture, colour, swelling, bleeding, or retained material observed? measurement
- What earlier observation supports calling this a change, and how comparable were the viewing conditions? provenance
Examination constraints
Defines what can be inspected and what requires additional expertise or cooperation.
Appropriate next observation
Choose further observation according to oral accessibility, cooperation, and the examiner's competence.
- Which oral regions remain unobserved because of access, lighting, movement, or limited cooperation? boundary
- What consent, trained handling, or professional expertise is required before a closer or instrumented examination? action
Evidence and external alignment What the world already says about this thing, gathered so the model can be checked against it.
Reported evidence
Findings from the breadth pass, kept separate from the structural claims.
Kinds and varieties
Reported by the breadth pass; each item needs checking against its source before it becomes normative.
- Which of these kinds and varieties hold for the sense of mouth this model covers, and on what evidence? provenance
Identifiers and schemes
Reported by the breadth pass; each item needs checking against its source before it becomes normative.
- Which of these identifiers and schemes hold for the sense of mouth this model covers, and on what evidence? provenance
Standards and regulation
Reported by the breadth pass; each item needs checking against its source before it becomes normative.
- Which of these standards and regulation hold for the sense of mouth this model covers, and on what evidence? provenance
Real-world use
Reported by the breadth pass; each item needs checking against its source before it becomes normative.
- Which of these real-world use hold for the sense of mouth this model covers, and on what evidence? provenance
Typical measurements
Reported by the breadth pass; each item needs checking against its source before it becomes normative.
- Which of these typical measurements hold for the sense of mouth this model covers, and on what evidence? provenance
Failure modes and hazards
Reported by the breadth pass; each item needs checking against its source before it becomes normative.
- Which of these failure modes and hazards hold for the sense of mouth this model covers, and on what evidence? provenance
Regional variation
Reported by the breadth pass; each item needs checking against its source before it becomes normative.
- Which of these regional variation hold for the sense of mouth this model covers, and on what evidence? provenance
Neighbouring kinds and how to tell them apart
Reported by the breadth pass; each item needs checking against its source before it becomes normative.
- Which of these neighbouring kinds and how to tell them apart hold for the sense of mouth this model covers, and on what evidence? provenance
Classifiers Filled
- Family
- Thing Registry
- Category
- Physical world and living systems
- Entry kind
- thing
- Plane
- PHY
- Domain
- PHY.OBJ
- Other names and narrower kinds
- human mouth, cat mouth, Cephalopod beak
What it is Filled
The mouth is the cranial orifice of the alimentary canal together with the cavity immediately inside it, through which food is ingested and typically seized, tasted and mechanically processed, and which in vertebrates communicates posteriorly with the pharynx.
In scope
- The oral opening, associated cavity where present, and boundaries with adjacent structures
- Arrangement and relationships of oral tissues and structures
- Mouth participation in food intake and initial processing
- Oral sensation and participation in communication or other taxon-specific functions
- Observed oral condition, functional limitations, and constraints on examination
Out of scope
- The organism's complete anatomy, taxonomy, or life history
- Standalone models of teeth, tongue, jaws, and salivary glands
- Downstream digestion and the complete respiratory system
- Disease-specific diagnosis and treatment protocols
- Language, speech content, and communicative intent
- Figurative mouths such as river mouths or container openings
Why it exists Filled
Enable an agent to recognise an animal mouth, record its anatomical and functional state, and judge which observations or interactions are appropriate for the organism concerned.
Distinguishing features Filled
- Identify an anatomical opening associated with food entry into an animal; do not classify an opening as a mouth solely because it admits air.
- Distinguish the oral aperture from the associated oral cavity, recording which meaning an observation uses.
- Treat lips, jaws, teeth, and tongue as associated structures where present, rather than requiring all of them for mouth identity.
- Locate the mouth relative to adjoining digestive passages using the organism's anatomy rather than assuming human boundaries.
- Distinguish a mouth belonging to an individual from a diagram, prosthesis, or taxon-level description of mouth anatomy.
What robots and AI may and may not do Filled
Must not
- Diagnose oral cancer or infection in a specific person without a clinician.
- Put objects, food or medicines into a person's mouth without their consent or care plan.
- Share images of a patient's mouth or dental records beyond their care team.
- Feed a person who is at risk of choking without the precautions in their care plan.
Only with a human decision
- Feeding or giving oral medicine to a person who cannot swallow safely.
- Any dental or surgical procedure.
May
- Explain the mouth's anatomy and functions in eating, breathing and speech from medical sources.
- Assist a person who has asked for help with oral care or feeding, following their care plan.
Moral aspects Filled
- Help with eating and mouth care touches a person's dignity and autonomy.
- Oral health problems fall hardest on people with poor access to dental care.
Who is affected
- Patients
- People needing feeding help
- Dentists and carers
Owners Filled
Steward
The person themselves with their dentist and clinicians; nobody owns the anatomical structure.
Master systems
- Dental and medical records
Links to other meta-models Filled
parent
- Q112826975 - registry parent class
- Q66544250 - registry parent class
What else AI and robots need to interact with it Filled
Identity and identifiers required Filled
- Vercy registry: vr.tr.mouth
- Wikidata: Q9635 (https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q9635)
Direct properties required Filled
- Organism and anatomical reference: Individual organism, taxon, life stage, and applicable anatomical terminology
- Referent extent: Oral aperture; oral cavity; combined oral region; unresolved
- Oral structure complement: Present and absent structures, with their positions and connections
- Opening extent: Millimetres between named landmarks or degrees between named structures, with posture and method
- Closure and movement: Observed closure, movement range, symmetry, and limitations; not assessed
- Intake performance: Observed acquisition, retention, processing, and transfer of food; difficulty; not assessed
- Surface condition: Location-specific observations of surface integrity, moisture, colour, swelling, bleeding, or material present
- Sensory evidence: Reported sensation; observed response; measured response; unknown
- Functional connections: Connections to digestive, respiratory, sensory, or sound-producing structures, where applicable
Recognition required Filled
- The opening below the nose bounded by the lips, leading into a cavity with teeth and tongue.
- In animals, the opening at the front of the head through which food is taken.
Capabilities and actions required Filled
- Identify and label the oral opening and visible associated structures using taxon-appropriate terminology.
- Record mouth opening and movement with explicit landmarks, posture, and observation conditions.
- Describe visible oral changes and compare observations of the same location over time.
- Assess evidence for food acquisition, retention, processing, and transfer without inferring unobserved performance.
- Relate oral structures to observed sensory or communicative functions where applicable.
- Determine whether further oral examination requires consent, trained handling, or specialist assessment.
Hazards and failure modes required Filled
- Choking can block the airway and kill within minutes.
- Untreated oral infections can spread to deeper tissues and the bloodstream.
Standards and interfaces required Filled
- Terminologia Anatomica, issued by the Federative International Programme for Anatomical Terminology of the International Federation of Associations of Anatomists, standardizes names for the human oral cavity and its associated anatomical structures.
Context of use required Filled
- The mouth admits food into the digestive tract and commonly supports food capture, tasting and mechanical processing.
- In many vertebrates it also participates in breathing, vocalization, grooming or carrying objects.
- Its structures are examined in dental care, feeding assessments and comparative animal anatomy.
Sources Filled
- Terminologia Anatomica, 2nd edition - Federative International Programme for Anatomical Terminology (FIPAT), International Federation of Associations of Anatomists - Official anatomical name cavitas oris, subdivision into vestibule and oral cavity proper, and the oropharyngeal isthmus as the posterior boundary.
- Gray's Anatomy: The Anatomical Basis of Clinical Practice, 42nd edition, ed. Susan Standring - Elsevier - Human oral cavity boundaries, contents (teeth, tongue, salivary duct openings), innervation, vascular supply, and relations to the pharynx.
- Medical Subject Headings (MeSH) descriptor Mouth (D009055) - U.S. National Library of Medicine - Controlled biomedical definition of the mouth as an anatomical region and the scope of related oral-disease indexing.
- Uberon, an integrative multi-species anatomy ontology (Mungall et al.) - Genome Biology - Multi-species class mouth (UBERON:0000165) and its distinction from oral cavity, pharynx and mouthparts across metazoa.
- International Classification of Diseases, 11th Revision - World Health Organization - Diseases of the oral cavity as a regulated clinical chapter and the oral cavity as a topography in cancer classification.
- AJCC Cancer Staging Manual, 8th edition - American Joint Committee on Cancer / Union for International Cancer Control - Operational boundary between oral cavity and oropharynx used in cancer staging, and the clinical meaning of 'oral cavity' as a site.
- Wikidata item Q9635: mouth - identity and sense of the item
- Wikipedia: Mouth - general description of the item
Open questions
- Does the registry intend mouth to cover animal mouths generally, human mouths specifically, or only the oral aperture?
- Which existing Vercy models already own the oral cavity or mouth, and should this entry link to one of them?
- Which comparative anatomical references should govern boundaries and terminology across the taxa covered?
- How should this model represent animals whose mouth also serves other digestive exchanges, or whose oral structures change substantially between life stages?
- Which taxon- and life-stage-specific methods and reference ranges are needed before oral measurements can support judgements about functional limitation?
Machine files
Provenance
thing registry research (pass 2) · unreviewed
Built from: models/things/publications/thing-q9635/spec.json