Anatom3DUvular muscle
Musculus uvulae · Sval čípku
Muscles
Looks like
A small paired muscle inside the uvula, the soft finger of tissue hanging from the back of the palate.
What it does
Shortens and thickens the uvula to help the palate seal the nose off from the throat.
Keeping it well
A swollen uvula with trouble breathing or swallowing is an emergency. Snoring surgery may trim it.
Related conditions
- 22q11.2 deletion syndrome (DiGeorge)
- Bad breath (halitosis)
- Botulism
- Burning mouth syndrome
- Cleft lip and palate
- Fibromyalgia
- Frailty & falls in older age
- Hand, foot and mouth disease
- Heat exhaustion & heatstroke
- Lichen planus
- Malnutrition & refeeding syndrome
- Mouth ulcers (aphthous stomatitis)
- Muscular dystrophy
- Obstructive sleep apnoea
- Pemphigus vulgaris
- Polymyalgia rheumatica
- Rhabdomyolysis
- Sarcoma
- Sarcopenia
- Stevens–Johnson syndrome / toxic epidermal necrolysis
- Tetanus