Soft palate

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Soft palate


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, lesser palatine nerves
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.

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. and is responsible for closing off the respiratory system.

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 retracts and elevates during speech to separate the oral cavity (mouth) from the nasal cavity in order to produce the oral speech sounds. If this separation is incomplete, air escapes through the nose, causing the speech to be perceived as hyper nasal. While sneezing it protects nasal passage by diverting a part of substance to be thrown out to mouth.

[edit] Muscles of soft palate

Muscle	Action	Nerve
levator veli palatini	deglutition	Vagus nerve via pharyngeal plexus
tensor veli palatini	deglutition	mandibular nerve
palatoglossus	respiration	Vagus nerve via pharyngeal plexus
palatopharyngeus	respiration	Vagus nerve via pharyngeal plexus
musculus uvulae	moves uvula	Vagus nerve via pharyngeal plexus

[edit] Additional images

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

[edit] See also

[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 (Orbit/Periorbita, Trochlea) • Ear • Temple • Cheek • Chin • Scalp

Nose

External nose	Nostril • Nasal septum • cartilages (of the septum, Greater alar, Lesser alar, Lateral nasal, Accessory nasal, Vomeronasal) • Olfactory glands

Nasal cavity	Nasal concha • Sphenoethmoidal recess • Ethmoid bulla • Semilunar hiatus • Maxillary hiatus • Inferior meatus • Vomeronasal organ • Paranasal sinuses

Naso-pharynx	Choana - Pharyngeal opening of auditory tube (Salpingopharyngeal fold, Salpingopalatine fold, Torus tubarius) - Pharyngeal tonsil - Pharyngeal recess

Mouth/oral cavity

Palate/roof of mouth	Hard palate • Soft palate • Palatine raphe • Incisive papilla

Tongue	dorsum (Taste bud, Median sulcus, Terminal sulcus, Foramen cecum, Lingual tonsils) • opposite dorsum (Frenulum, Plica fimbriata, Sublingual caruncle) • Anterior • Posterior • Glossoepiglottic folds

Teeth	Permanent (Incisor, Canine, Premolar, Molar) • Deciduous

Oro-pharynx	arches/fauces (Palatoglossal, Palatopharyngeal) • Oropharyngeal isthmus • Palatine tonsil • Uvula

Salivary glands	Parotid gland/Parotid duct • Submandibular gland/Submandibular duct • Sublingual gland/Major sublingual duct

Other	Lip (Upper, Lower) • Philtrum • Pterygomandibular raphe • Vestibule of mouth