Hard palate

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Hard palate
Mouth (oral cavity)
Upper respiratory system, with hard palate labeled at right
Details
ArteryGreater palatine artery
NerveGreater palatine nerve, nasopalatine nerve
Identifiers
Latinpalatum durum
MeSHD021362
TA98A05.1.01.103
TA22779
FMA55023
Anatomical terminology

The hard palate is a thin horizontal

teeth
(when these are developed).

Structure

The hard palate is formed by the

palatine process of the maxilla and horizontal plate of palatine bone. It forms a partition between the nasal passages and the mouth. On the anterior portion of the hard palate are the plicae, irregular ridges in the mucous membrane that help facilitate the movement of food backward towards the larynx. This partition is continued deeper into the mouth by a fleshy extension called the soft palate
.

On the ventral surface of hard palate, some projections or transverse ridges are present which are called as palatine rugae.[1]

Function

The hard palate is important for feeding and speech. Mammals with a

speech sounds, notably high-front vowels, palatal consonants, and retroflex consonants
such as [i] like "see", [j] like "yes", [ç] (realization of /hj/ in English) like "hue", and [ɻ] (/r/, only for some speakers) like "red".

Clinical significance

Cleft palate

In the

cleft lip
).

While a cleft palate has a severe impact upon the ability to nurse and speak, it is now successfully treated through reconstructive surgical procedures at an early age. This is the time where such procedures are available.

Due to the complexity of this birth defect, researchers still do not know exactly what causes the cleft palate to form during foetal development. Recently, these researchers found that even though there is no exact cause, there are several factors that drastically increase the risk of a baby being born with an orofacial cleft palate. As for the environmental risk factors, maternal smoking is the most influential risk factor. Based on a recent study of 103 German patients with cleft palates, it was found that 25.2% of their mothers smoked during pregnancy, a higher proportion than for the population as a whole.[2]

While maternal smoking during pregnancy is a risk, there are also several genetic risk factors. Six

single-nucleotide polymorphisms in the PAX7 gene are implicated in the development of facial features.[3] These variations occur at six loci: 1p36, 2p21, 3p11.1, 8q21.3, 13q31.1 and 15q22.[3] When tested in the European and Asian communities, five of the six loci had a significant association at the 95% confidence level.[3] Besides the PAX 7 gene variants, there were also five possible mutations found in the transforming growth factor-alpha gene (TGFA) that could lead to the development of a cleft palate.[4]
Even though several risk factors have been linked to cleft palates, more research must be done in order to determine the true causes of the defect.

Palatal abscess

Palatal abscesses may also occur.[5]

Hard palate pigmentation

Long-term use of the drug chloroquine diphosphatase, used in malaria prophylaxis, rheumatoid arthritis and other conditions, was found to cause bluish-grey pigmentation in the hard palate.[6][7]

See also

References

  1. PMID 18978384
    .
  2. PMID 22409215
    . Retrieved 23 November 2019.
  3. ^
    PMID 22863734
    .
  4. PMID 22438645
    .
  5. PMID 8118828
    .
  6. PMID 28941224
    .
  7. PMID 29410767
    .
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