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“The uvula is the punching bag located at the back of the soft palate, and helps to close off the upper throat from the lower throat during swallowing and speech,” says Craig Zalvan, M.D ...
At times, the mucous membrane around the uvula may swell, causing the uvula to expand 3–5 times its normal size. This condition is known as uvulitis. When the uvula touches the throat or tongue, it can cause sensations like gagging or choking, although there is no foreign matter present. This can cause problems with breathing, talking, and ...
To check the uvula, a tongue blade is pressed down on the patient's tongue and the patient is asked to say "ah"; the uvula should look like a pendant in the midline and rise along the soft palate. Abnormal findings include deviation of the uvula from the midline, an asymmetrical rise of the soft palate or uvula and redness of either.
If you wake up in the morning with a sore throat, you could unknowingly be sleeping with your mouth open. Dr. Love says that this is another non-infectious reason why some people have a sore throat.
Touching the damaged side produces no response at all. At one point, it was thought that a lack of the gag reflex in stroke patients was a good predictor for dysphagia (difficulty with swallowing) or laryngeal aspiration (food or drink entering the larynx ), and was therefore commonly checked for.
A sore throat and/or difficulty swallowing; Drainage of secretions into the nose and a nasal quality to the voice. English language speech does not seem to be affected by this surgery. Narrowing of the airway in the nose and throat (hence constricting breathing) snoring and even iatrogenically caused sleep apnea.
For most of us, the uvula is just a random piece of flesh that hangs in the back of our throats without any clear purpose. For 17-year-old Sam Ireland, however, the uvula can be used to impress ...
A progressively severe sore throat on one side and pain during swallowing (odynophagia) usually are the earliest symptoms. As the abscess develops, persistent pain in the peritonsillar area, fever , a general sense of feeling unwell , headache, and a distortion of vowels informally known as "hot potato voice" may appear.