In a definition essay, you explain the meaning of a certain term by giving a detailed description of it, and support your definition with clear examples or facts. Such explanations are needed if a term is special, abstract, disputed or does not have a common meaning.
Dysphagia may be caused by traumatic injuries to the head, neck, or chest and result from accidents or iatrogenic causes. In the latter category, both planned and inadvertent injuries to cranial nerves are common. Many accident victims have involvement of multiple sites.
Dysphagia is classified by the deficit area such as oral, pharyngeal, oropharyngeal and esophageal dysphagia. In some patients, no organic cause for dysphagia can be found, and these patients are defined as having functional dysphagia. Oropharyngeal dysphagia arises from abnormalities of muscles, nerves or structures of the oral cavity, pharynx, and upper esophageal sphincter. 1 Signs and symptoms.