Palate

(pal’ -at) [palatum, palate]. The roof of the mouth. It is composed of the hard palate, formed by the palatal proce es of the superior maxillary bones and the palatal bones, and the soft palate, or velum palati, consisting of an aggregation of muscles, the tensor palati, azygos uvulae, pal a to glo us, and palatopharyngeus. P., Arti cial, a plate of hard material used as an obturator to close a fi ure in the palate. P., Cleft, a congenital deformity characterized by incomplete closure of the lateral halves of the palate. 473