palates

Palates are the components that form the roof of the mouth in humans and many other mammals, consisting of a hard palate at the front and a soft palate at the back. The hard palate is a bony structure separating the oral and nasal cavities, made up of the maxillary palatine processes anteriorly and the horizontal plates of the palatine bones posteriorly. Its surface features mucosa, palatine rugae (transverse ridges), and midline sutures, with openings such as the incisive foramen and the greater and lesser palatine foramina for nerve and vessel passage. The soft palate is a flexible muscular extension that ends in the uvula and can move to close the nasopharynx during swallowing and certain speech sounds.

The soft palate contains several muscles, including the tensor veli palatini, levator veli palatini, palatoglossus, palatopharyngeus, and the musculus uvulae. The tensor veli palatini actively tenses and opens the auditory tube during swallowing. The levator veli palatini and other palatal muscles elevate and tense the soft palate to seal off the nasal cavity when needed. Motor innervation to most of the soft palate and its muscles is via the pharyngeal plexus (cranial nerve X), with the tensor veli palatini supplied by a branch of the mandibular nerve (cranial nerve V3). Sensory innervation of the palate arises from branches of the maxillary nerve (cranial nerve V2), including the greater palatine and nasopalatine nerves for the hard palate, and the lesser palatine nerves for the soft palate.

Functions of the palate include forming a barrier between the oral and nasal cavities, facilitating swallowing by preventing nasal regurgitation, and shaping certain speech sounds. Developmentally, palatal formation is critical; failure of fusion can result in a cleft palate, a condition often requiring surgical repair and multidisciplinary management.