Are there 5 sphincters in the digestive tract or 7?

1 Answer
Apr 5, 2016

There are six sphincters in the digestive tract, but some say five because they think that the cardiac sphincter is not a true sphincter valve.

Explanation:

The six sphincters are the upper esophageal sphincters (UES), the cardiac sphincter, the pyloric sphincters, the ileocecal sphincters and the involuntary and voluntary a*** sphincters. You may have said five because of the cardiac sphincter. Some think that this isn't a true sphincter valve, so they may not include it.

Here's the link to my source.