How BAD Is It When Something Goes Down the "Wrong Tube"???

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Great, my life depends on a “little flappy thing” to do its job.

Me when i eat: Please Epiglottis, flap. Please

An act so simple as drinking or breathing has so much complexity behind it, this is why I love anatomy.

His enthusiasm is infectious and makes it even more fun to learn about this stuff that might otherwise make one squeamish. Love this! Makes you realize just how amazing our bodies are.

The human body: One wrong move and there's a chance you could die....

Learning is so cool when it's not forced.

You can tell this is being presented by someone who cares a lot about the content. That comes across in body language and inflection, and it adds a LOT to the quality of this video and the ability to keep attention. This video is very well-done for the most part, and I really enjoyed it!

As someone who's deathly afraid of choking/getting food or water down the "wrong tube" (keep in mind, theres usually a lot of saliva in my mouth so I need to swallow every five seconds or so) this video helped me understand what's going on in my body more. Thanks man, I appreciate it :)

Just realized I’ve been staring at a real head sliced in half…

Absolutely horrible design! I hope they'll fix this bug in the next update.

My son has a form of muscular dystrophy and is always aspirating his food. I often wondered about this process. Thank you

One time I swallowed a pill and it got stuck blocking my airway completely. I couldn’t drink anything to wash it down and my husband tried the Heimlich multiple times and even shoved his finger down my throat. Nothing worked. I fr almost died. After what was probably a min and a half, I accepted that I’m probably going to die. I stayed calm prayed in my head and sure enough a teeny tiny way for me to get some air happened. I just focused on slowly breathing through that until I was able to get enough oxygen to try the Heimlich again. I have extreme ptsd now because of this and can no longer swallow pills. Has to be crushed up from now on. I’ve never been scared to die but now I’m scared of how I’ll die and suffocating is not the way I want to go. That was absolutely horrific and traumatizing

"hey that's a really fucking realistic mold there" *hears the words "preserving fluids" "ah, ok"

If anatomy was taught like this, with such enthusiasm and relatability, I could have done so much better

Sometimes that little flap won’t work as well as it should but that’s okay. I’m a speech pathologist and I help a lot of patients with swallowing problems. In addition to the epiglottis, the closure of the false vocal folds and the true vocal folds create additional set of valves that close off the airway. So if the epiglottis doesn’t completely close off the airway, there are other mechanisms in place. I’ve worked with patients who still are able to swallow even without that epiglottis fully inverting.

I suffer from pretty extreme anxiety. So every time I eat I have to be totally concious when I swallow as I choke through most of my meals. It is extremely exhausting and needless to say eating is not enjoyable in any way. When I am not as anxious I am good to go. Thanks for this very interesting video and perhaps it will help me in the future to understand and relax.

Don't talk to me while I'm eating. I have decided I will no longer answer. And if you tell jokes while I'm eating, I'll swiftly slap you back into silence.

For anyone wondering, this head belonged to an elderly man. You can tell by the worn skin, nose shape and thin hair on the back of the head. I’m sure he has a fulfilling life and I thank him for donating his head for us to learn :)

Wow! That was fascinating, and so well explained. Thank you for an excellent, informative presentation! I'm 73 and when I was 13 or 14, my mom had a series of serious operations where her esophagus was removed and her colon was pulled up and made into one, and her stomach was moved over and up. Amazing - especially for the times. Part of the original problem was that food kept going down the wrong pipe and she had bouts of strangling, nearly asphyxiating, etc. In the invoice details, the doctor said that, apart from the major work, a flap was also inserted to prevent regurgitation. We always wondered about that and where, exactly, it might have been placed. I guess it was similar to the epiglottis but I wonder how they made it allow food to pass down but not come back up. She lived another 45 or more years and never did regurgitate again but also didn't have any problems eating and/or breathing!