Definition of Hard and Soft Palates

The palate is the roof of the mouth, according to BookRags.com, an on-demand educational resource site. The hard palate is formed by two types of bones, whereas the soft palate lies behind the hard palate and consists of muscular tissue. The hard and soft palates perform a variety of critical functions.

Hard Palate

• The hard palate is formed by two types of bones called the maxillae and the palatine bones, which are covered by a mucous membrane. The maxillae also form the upper jaw, according to “Torres and Ehrlich Modern Dental Assisting.” The horizontal plates of the palatine bones form the back part of the hard palate of the mouth and the floor of the nose. The vertical plates of the palatine bones form part of the nasal cavity.

Soft Palate

• The soft palate’s muscular tissue is covered by epithelial tissue. Epithelial tissue is a type of tissue that forms the covering of all external and internal body surfaces. This tissue provides protection, produces secretions and regulates the materials that move across it. The uvula, a piece of tissue that hangs down from the middle of the soft palate, is above the root of the tongue. The uvula helps to keep food from going down the breathing passage when a person is swallowing food.

Function

• The hard and soft palates separate the oral cavity from the nasal cavity. The combination of the two palates also helps humans breathe and chew simultaneously. That’s because the passage remains open when a person is not swallowing food, thus allowing him to breathe through the mouth and nose. However, the soft palate moves upward and blocks off the entrance to the back nasal passage when a person is swallowing food.

Other Function

• The hard and soft palates help people sing. When sound comes from the chest, the sound waves that have been generated by the vocal cords bounce off of the hard palate and out of the mouth. The hard palate essentially directs and resonates sound. In addition, the uvula that hangs from the soft palate helps singers create a vibrato, which is a pulsating effect in a vocal tone, according to Princeton University.

Formation

• The hard and soft palates form when a fetus develops in the womb. Formation of the palates takes several weeks to occur and begins in the fifth week of prenatal development. Improper formation of the hard palate occurs in one of every 500 to 1,000 babies, according to BookRags.com. This disorder can be corrected through surgery, but the cause of it remains unknown. Medical experts suspect that environmental factors and inherited traits contribute to the condition. Individuals who have excess flesh on their uvula also might experience problems such as snoring or sleep apnea, which is halted breathing during sleep. To treat this, doctors can remove extra flesh from the uvula.