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
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.

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 response in most people.

The soft palate also functions 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.

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

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.

See also

• Hard palate
• Palate
• Tonsil
• Palatine uvula

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 • 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

de:Gaumensegel

fr:Voile du palais he:וילון (אנטומיה) ko:연구개sv:Mjuka gommen

Acknowledgement and Attribution Regarding Sources of Content

Some of the initial content on this page may be incorporated in part from copyleft sources in the public domain including wikis such as Wikipedia and AskDrWiki. Drug information for patients came from the The National Library of Medicine. Infectious disease information may have come from the Centers for Disease Control (CDC). Differential Diagnoses are drawn from clinicians as well as an amalgamation of 3 sources: 1.The Disease Database; 2. Kahan, Scott, Smith, Ellen G. In A Page: Signs and Symptoms. Malden, Massachusetts: Blackwell Publishing, 2004:3; 3. Sailer, Christian, Wasner, Susanne. Differential Diagnosis Pocket. Hermosa Beach, CA: Borm Bruckmeir Publishing LLC, 2002:7 .