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Morphological variety of the soft palate in normal individuals: a digital cephalometric study

Department of Oral Radiology, West China College of Stomatology, Sichuan University, Chengdu, Sichuan, China

*Correspondence to: Hu Wang, Department of Oral Radiology, West China College of Stomatology, Sichuan University, Chengdu, Sichuan, 610041, PR China. E-mail: wanghu200108{at}163.com

Received 12 November 2006; revised 27 August 2007; accepted 19 September 2007

Objectives: The literature describes the morphology of the soft palate as being of only one kind and ignores its diversity, but in our clinical work we discovered that the morphology of the soft palate has a variable presentation on lateral cephalometry. The aim of our study was to investigate the variation of the velar morphology.

Methods: In this study, the sample comprised 200 normal subjects whose ages ranged from 5–48 years (mean 19.37 years). The morphology of the soft palate on lateral cephalometry was examined and classified into six types. The dimensional differences of the soft palate between each pair of types and the differences in proportion to different age and gender groups were also studied.

Results: The morphology of the soft palate was classified into six types. There was a significant difference between the pre-adult and adult groups and also between male and female groups in proportion to velar type. The velar length in Type 3 was significantly shorter than in all other types apart from Type 6. However, there was no significant difference between any two of the other 5 types.

Conclusions: The soft palate has variable radiographic appearances on lateral cephalometry. The classification system and statistical findings here may help the research of velopharyngeal closure in cleft palate individuals, and aetiological study of obstructive sleep apnoea syndrome and other conditions.

Keywords: soft palate; cephalometric radiographs; morphology