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While swallowing, the soft palate is pushed backwards, preventing food and drink from entering the nasal cavity. If the soft palate cannot touch the back of the throat while swallowing, food and drink can enter the nasal cavity. [6] Splitting of the uvula occurs infrequently but is the most common form of mouth and nose area cleavage among ...
The soft palate (also known as the velum, palatal velum, or muscular palate) is, in mammals, the soft tissue constituting the back of the roof of the mouth. The soft palate is part of the palate of the mouth; the other part is the hard palate.
The levator veli palatini (/ l ɪ ˈ v eɪ t ər ˈ v iː l aɪ ˌ p æ l ə ˈ t aɪ n aɪ /) is a muscle of the soft palate and pharynx. It is innervated by the vagus nerve (cranial nerve X) via its pharyngeal plexus. During swallowing, it contracts, elevating the soft palate to help prevent food from entering the nasopharynx.
The palatine velum is slightly raised by the levator veli palatini and made tense by the tensor veli palatini; the palatopharyngeus muscles, by their contraction, pull the pharynx upward over the bolus of food and nearly come together, the uvula filling up the slight interval between them.
The reflex is initiated by touch receptors in the pharynx as a bolus of food is pushed to the back of the mouth by the tongue, or by stimulation of the palate (palatal reflex). Swallowing is a complex mechanism using both skeletal muscle ( tongue ) and smooth muscles of the pharynx and esophagus .
The gag reflex involves a brisk and brief elevation of the soft palate and bilateral contraction of pharyngeal muscles evoked by touching the posterior pharyngeal wall. Touching the soft palate can lead to a similar reflex response. However, in that case, the sensory limb of the reflex is the CN V (trigeminal nerve). In very sensitive ...
The palate (/ ˈ p æ l ɪ t /) is the roof of the mouth in humans and other mammals. It separates the oral cavity from the nasal cavity . [ 1 ] A similar structure is found in crocodilians , but in most other tetrapods , the oral and nasal cavities are not truly separated.
A few fibers of palatopharyngeus muscle sweep backward under cover of the Passavant's ridge and form a U-shaped sling of palatopharyngeal sphincter. When the soft palate is elevated it comes in contact with ridge, the two together closing pharyngeal isthmus between nasopharynx and oropharynx. [2]