Tensor veli palatini at a glance
- What it is
- A palatal muscle that tenses the soft palate.
- Location
- Originates from the scaphoid fossa, spine of the sphenoid and cartilage of the pharyngotympanic tube, and inserts into the palatine aponeurosis after hooking around the pterygoid hamulus.
- Function
- Tenses the soft palate and opens the pharyngotympanic tube during swallowing and yawning.
- Body system
- Muscular · paired (left and right)
- FMA ID
- FMA46732 (Foundational Model of Anatomy)
Key facts
- Innervation: nerve to medial pterygoid (mandibular nerve, CN V3)
- The only palatal muscle not supplied by the vagus
Clinical relevance
Dysfunction contributes to middle ear problems in cleft palate.
Structures next to the tensor veli palatini
The nearest named structures in the 3D model, measured from the centre of each part:
- Superior pharyngeal constrictor · muscular
- Levator veli palatini · muscular
- Salpingopharyngeus · muscular
- Uvular muscle · muscular
- Internal carotid artery · cardiovascular
- Palatine bone · skeletal
- Pterygomandibular raphe · muscular
- Stylohyoid · muscular
- Rectus capitis anterior · muscular
- Digastric · muscular
References
- Foundational Model of Anatomy: Tensor veli palatini (FMA46732). EMBL-EBI Ontology Lookup Service.
- OpenStax. Anatomy and Physiology 2e, §11.2 Naming Skeletal Muscles. Rice University, 2022.
- Mitsuhashi N. et al. (2009). BodyParts3D: 3D structure database for anatomical concepts. Nucleic Acids Research 37, D782–D785. Data © The Database Center for Life Science, CC BY 4.0.
Related anatomy
Explore the whole body in the interactive 3D human anatomy model, or browse the A–Z list of human structures.