Secondary palate

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Secondary palate

The secondary palate is an anatomical structure that divides the nasal cavity

Nasal cavity

The nasal cavity is a large air-filled space above and behind the nose in the middle of the face....
from the oral cavity

Mouth

The mouth, buccal cavity, or oral cavity is the first portion of the alimentary canal that receives food and begins digestion by mechanically breaking up the solid food particles into smaller pieces and mixing them with saliva....
in many vertebrate

Vertebrate

Vertebrates are members of the subphylum Vertebrata, chordates with Vertebras or Vertebral columns. The grouping sometimes includes the hagfish, which have no vertebrae, but are genetically quite closely related to lampreys, which do have vertebrae....
s.

In human embryology

Embryology

Embryology is the study of the development of an embryo. An embryo is defined as any organism in a stage before birth or hatching, or in plants, before germination occurs....
, it refers to that portion of the hard palate

Hard palate

The hard palate is a thin horizontal bone plate of the skull, located in the roof of the mouth. It spans the arch formed by the upper teeth.It is formed by the palatine process of the maxilla and horizontal plate of palatine bone....
that is formed by the growth of the two palatine shelves medially and their mutual fusion in the midline. It forms the majority of the adult palate and meets the primary palate at the incisive foramen

Incisive foramen

The incisive foramen is an opening in the bone of the oral hard palate where blood vessels and nerves may pass. There are four of these openings in the incisive fossa....
.

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Encyclopedia

The secondary palate is an anatomical structure that divides the nasal cavity

Nasal cavity

The nasal cavity is a large air-filled space above and behind the nose in the middle of the face....
from the oral cavity

Mouth

Vertebrate

Embryology

Hard palate

Incisive foramen

The incisive foramen is an opening in the bone of the oral hard palate where blood vessels and nerves may pass. There are four of these openings in the incisive fossa....
.

Clinical significance

Secondary palate development

The development of the secondary palate commences in the sixth week of Embryology. It is characterised by the formation of two palatal shelves on the maxillary prominences, the elevation of these shelves to a horizontal position, and then a process of palatal fusion between the horizontal shelves....
begins in the sixth week of pregnancy

Pregnancy

Pregnancy is the carrying of one or more offspring, known as a fetus or embryo, inside the uterus of a female. In a pregnancy, there can be multiple gestations, as in the case of twins or Multiple birth....
and can lead to cleft palate when it goes awry.

There are three major mechanisms known to cause this failure:

Growth retardation - Palatal shelves do not grow enough to meet each other.
Mechanical obstruction - Improper mouth size, or abnormal anatomical structures in the embryonic mouth prevent fully grown shelves from meeting each other.
Midline epithelial dysfunction (MED) - The surface mucosa of embryonic shelves is impaired, which causes a failure of .