The soft palate is the soft tissue

Biological tissue

Tissue is a cellular organizational level intermediate between cells and a complete organism. A tissue is an ensemble of cells, not necessarily identical, but from the same origin, that together carry out a specific function. These are called tissues because of their identical functioning...

 constituting the back of the roof of the mouth

Mouth

The mouth is the first portion of the alimentary canal that receives food andsaliva. The oral mucosa is the mucous membrane epithelium lining the inside of the mouth....

. The soft palate is distinguished from the hard palate

Hard palate

The hard palate is a thin horizontal bony plate of the skull, located in the roof of the mouth. It spans the arch formed by the upper teeth.It is formed by the palatine process of the maxilla and horizontal plate of palatine bone....

 at the front of the mouth in that it does not contain bone.

Function

The soft palate is movable, consisting of muscle

Muscle

Muscle is a contractile tissue of animals and is derived from the mesodermal layer of embryonic germ cells. Muscle cells contain contractile filaments that move past each other and change the size of the cell. They are classified as skeletal, cardiac, or smooth muscles. Their function is to...

 fibers sheathed in mucous membrane

Mucous membrane

The mucous membranes are linings of mostly endodermal origin, covered in epithelium, which are involved in absorption and secretion. They line cavities that are exposed to the external environment and internal organs...

. It is responsible for closing off the nasal passages

Respiratory system

The respiratory system is the anatomical system of an organism that introduces respiratory gases to the interior and performs gas exchange. In humans and other mammals, the anatomical features of the respiratory system include airways, lungs, and the respiratory muscles...

 during the act of swallowing

Swallowing

Swallowing, known scientifically as deglutition, is the process in the human or animal body that makes something pass from the mouth, to the pharynx, and into the esophagus, while shutting the epiglottis. If this fails and the object goes through the trachea, then choking or pulmonary aspiration...

, and also for closing off the airway. During sneezing, it protects the nasal passage by diverting a portion of the excreted substance to the mouth.

The uvula hangs from the end of the soft palate. Research shows that the uvula is not actually involved in snoring processes. This has been shown through inconsistent results from uvula removal surgery. Snoring is more closely associated with fat deposition in the pharynx

Pharynx

The human pharynx is the part of the throat situated immediately posterior to the mouth and nasal cavity, and anterior to the esophagus and larynx. The human pharynx is conventionally divided into three sections: the nasopharynx , the oropharynx , and the laryngopharynx...

, enlarged tonsils of Waldeyer's Ring, or deviated septum

Deviated septum

Nasal septum deviation is a common physical disorder of the nose, involving a displacement of the nasal septum.-Causes:It is most frequently caused by impact trauma, such as by a blow to the face. It can also be a congenital disorder, caused by compression of the nose during childbirth...

 problems. Touching the uvula or the end of the soft palate evokes a strong gag reflex in most people.

Speech

A speech sound made with the middle part of the tongue

Tongue

The tongue is a muscular hydrostat on the floors of the mouths of most vertebrates which manipulates food for mastication. It is the primary organ of taste , as much of the upper surface of the tongue is covered in papillae and taste buds. It is sensitive and kept moist by saliva, and is richly...

 (dorsum) touching the soft palate is known as a velar consonant

Velar consonant

Velars are consonants articulated with the back part of the tongue against the soft palate, the back part of the roof of the mouth, known also as the velum)....

.

It is possible for the soft palate to retract and elevate 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 speech to be perceived as nasal

Nasalization

In phonetics, nasalization is the production of a sound while the velum is lowered, so that some air escapes through the nose during the production of the sound by the mouth...

.

Muscles of soft palate

The muscle of the soft palate play important roles in swallowing and breathing.

Pathology

Pathology of the soft palate includes mucosal lesions such as pemphigus vulgaris

Pemphigus vulgaris

Pemphigus vulgaris is a chronic blistering skin disease with skin lesions that are rarely pruritic, but which are often painful.-Pathophysiology:...

, herpangina

Herpangina

Herpangina, also called mouth blisters, is the name of a painful mouth infection caused by coxsackieviruses. Usually, herpangina is produced by one particular strain of coxsackie virus A but it can also be caused by coxsackievirus B or echoviruses. Most cases of herpangina occur in the summer,...

 and migratory stomatitis

Migratory stomatitis

Migratory stomatitis is a benign condition on the oral soft tissue. This condition has two forms: the common form, which is consisted from red lesions with white borders on the tongue only. This form is called geographic tongue...

, and muscular

Muscle

Muscle is a contractile tissue of animals and is derived from the mesodermal layer of embryonic germ cells. Muscle cells contain contractile filaments that move past each other and change the size of the cell. They are classified as skeletal, cardiac, or smooth muscles. Their function is to...

 conditions such as the congenital cleft palate and cleft uvula.

Petechiae on the soft palate are mainly associated with streptococcal pharyngitis, and as such it is an uncommon but highly specific

Sensitivity and specificity

Sensitivity and specificity are statistical measures of the performance of a binary classification test, also known in statistics as classification function. Sensitivity measures the proportion of actual positives which are correctly identified as such Sensitivity and specificity are statistical...

 finding. 10 to 30 percent of palatal petechiae cases are estimated to be caused by suction such as can be habitual or secondary to fellatio

Fellatio

Fellatio is an act of oral stimulation of a male's penis by a sexual partner. It involves the stimulation of the penis by the use of the mouth, tongue, or throat. The person who performs fellatio can be referred to as the giving partner, and the other person is the receiving partner...

.

External links

• Image at WebMD - "Diagram of the regions of the oral cavity."