Anatomy of the Hard Palate
HIDEInteractive Transcript
0:00
Hello everyone. Sidney Levy here,
0:03
once again continuing our discussion of the
0:06
anatomy of the oral cavity and its subsites.
0:10
Today we're going to focus on the hard palate.
0:13
The hard palate is often forgotten
0:15
because pathology, including squamous
0:18
cell malignancy, is relatively uncommon.
0:20
But we need to be familiar with its anatomy
0:23
because sometimes pathology in this region can
0:26
be mistaken for nasal cavity pathology,
0:29
when in fact it is really an oral cavity lesion.
0:33
Once again, I have our pre-contrast
0:36
T1-weighted imaging in three planes.
0:39
Before I go any further, I will quickly point out that
0:42
this particular patient has an oral tongue malignancy,
0:46
which we're not going to discuss any further, but in
0:49
case you are wondering why there is some distortion of
0:53
the appearance of the tongue on the coronal projection.
0:56
That is the reason.
0:58
So the hard palate is formed by two bones, the
1:02
maxilla, in particular, the palatine processes
1:05
of the maxillae, which form the anterior three
1:09
quarters of the hard palate, and then posteriorly,
1:13
the horizontal plates of the palatine bones.
1:18
The hard palate extends posteriorly
1:21
as far as the junction with the soft palate.
1:25
It's easy to see in the sagittal projection, as well
1:28
as the coronal projection, as a semilunar shape.
1:33
You can't readily appreciate it in the axial projection
1:36
due to its narrow dimensions in the superoinferior plane.
1:41
Now, the relationships of the hard palate are, as I
1:45
alluded to, the soft palate posteriorly, the alveolar
1:51
mucosa covering the alveolar ridges of the maxilla
1:55
laterally, and alveolar mucosa anteriorly as well.
2:01
It's important to remember that the hard palate is at
2:03
the junction of the oral cavity and the nasal cavity.
2:07
So, pathology in this region
2:09
has a tendency to spread
2:12
superiorly into the inferior
2:16
portion of the nasal cavity.
2:18
So in summary, the hard palate is a semilunar region
2:23
which consists of two bones covered by a mucous
2:27
membrane, the palatine processes of the maxilla,
2:32
and the horizontal plates of the palatine bones.
2:35
Its boundaries are the mucosae, or alveolar mucosae,
2:41
lining the upper alveolar ridges of the
2:44
maxilla and the soft palate posteriorly.
2:48
Thank you.
Sidney Levy, PhD, MBBS
Radiologist and Nuclear Medicine Specialist
I-MED
© 2025 Medality. All Rights Reserved.