Soft palate

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Soft palate
Image:Tonsils diagram.jpg
Image:Gray855.png
Lateral wall of nasal cavity. (Soft palate visible in lower right)
Latin	palatum molle, velum palatinum
Gray's	subject #242 1112
Artery	lesser palatine arteries, ascending palatine artery
Nerve	pharyngeal branch of vagus nerve, medial pterygoid nerve
MeSH	Soft+Palate
Dorlands/Elsevier	p_02/12607540

The soft palate (or velum, or muscular palate) is the soft tissue constituting the back of the roof of the mouth. The soft palate is distinguished from the hard palate at the front of the mouth in that it does not contain bone.

Contents 1 Function 2 Muscles of soft palate 3 Additional images 4 See also 5 External links

[edit] Function

It is movable, consisting of muscle fibers sheathed in mucous membrane, and is responsible for closing off the nasal passages during the act of swallowing.

The soft palate's motion during breathing is responsible for the sound of snoring. Touching the soft palate evokes a strong gag reflex in most people.

The soft palate should have holes forming that function during speech to separate the oral cavity (mouth) from the nose, in order to produce the oral speech sounds. If this separation is incomplete, air escapes through the nose during speech and the speech is perceived as hypernasal.

[edit] Muscles of soft palate

Muscle	Action	Nerve
levator veli palatini	deglutition	vagus
tensor veli palatini	deglutition	mandibular nerve
palatoglossus	respiration	vagus
palatopharyngeus	respiration	vagus
musculus uvulae	moves uvula	vagus

[edit] Additional images

Uvula without tonsils.jpg Soft palate without tonsils (after tonsillectomy)	Illu mouth.jpg Mouth (oral cavity)	Illu03 mouth.jpg Mouth	Gray994.png Sagittal section of nose mouth, pharynx, and larynx.
Gray1014.png The mouth cavity. The cheeks have been slit transversely and the tongue pulled forward.

[edit] See also

• Hard palate
• Palate
• Tonsil
• Palatine uvula

[edit] External links

• DEN4 at FPnotebook
• Image at WebMD
• SUNY Figs 34:01-03 - "Diagram of the regions of the oral cavity."
• Soft+palate at eMedicine Dictionary

v • d • e General anatomy of head and neck - head
Face/Occiput	Forehead • Eye • Ear • Temple • Cheek • Chin
External nose	Nostril • Nasal septum • Cartilages (Accessory nasal, of the septum, Greater alar, Lateral nasal, Lesser alar, Vomeronasal)  • Olfactory glands
Nasal cavity	Choana • Turbinate • Sphenoethmoidal recess • Ethmoid bulla • Hiatus semilunaris • Ostium maxillare • Inferior meatus • Vomeronasal organ • Paranasal sinus
Mouth/oral cavity	Lip (Upper, Lower)  • Philtrum • Jaw • Pterygomandibular raphe
Teeth	Permanent (Incisor, Canine, Premolar, Molar)  • Deciduous
Tongue	Plica fimbriata • Median sulcus • Foramen cecum • Terminal sulcus • Frenulum linguae • Anterior tongue • Posterior tongue
Palate/roof of mouth	Hard palate • Soft palate • Palatine raphe • Incisive papilla • Uvula • Pharyngeal recess • Arches (Palatoglossal, Palatopharyngeal)
Salivary glands	Parotid gland/Parotid duct • Submandibular gland/Submandibular duct • Sublingual gland/Major sublingual duct
Other	fascia (Masseteric fascia, Temporal fascia, Galea aponeurotica) • Scalp

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