The uvula is a small process. It has a conical shape. The tongue is located in the oral cavity, where the edge of the palate (its soft part) is visible, slightly above the root of the tongue. The uvula consists of connective and muscular tissue, on the outside it is covered with a mucous membrane. This process separates the zones of the pharynx and throat from each other.
Uvula functions
The main function of the uvula is to protect the nasopharynx, for example, from food and moisture ingress when a person performs swallowing movements. The tongue regulates the process of input and output of products consumed by a person into the digestive tract, prevents the possibility of accidentally burping food. Food that touches the uvula provokes a throat spasm that prevents a person from choking.
There are people in the world who do not have a uvula after surgery or because of a congenital malformation. Its absence has almost no effect on the quality of life, but increases the risk of food or drink getting into the nasopharynx. During the swallowing process, the simultaneous movements of the muscles of the palatine uvula and the soft palate ensure the elevation of the hard palate and the unimpeded passage of food and moisture from the oral cavity straight into the throat.
He althy tongue
In he althyThe palatal uvula is small in size and pale pink in color, like the rest of the oral cavity. Touching a he althy process, of course, can cause a gag reflex. If the uvula is he althy, then one can usually also observe a clear palate and the absence of other signs of angina and inflammation of the oral cavity. If the tongue is too long, then it can be considered he althy in general.
For illnesses
A palatine uvula with a white formation is a common symptom of some diseases, such as tonsillitis or exacerbation of tonsillitis. Usually in this case, a white coating covers not only this organ, but also the tonsils and other parts of the throat. The edge of the sky is usually also covered with a thick layer of white plaque, which, when removed, opens the reddened mucous membrane. In this case, you will need to cure a sore throat - then the white spots from the entire throat will disappear.
Uvula inflammation
If in general a person has a clear palate, but the uvula is still inflamed and reddened, then there is a reason to diagnose "uvulitis". This disease is characterized by suddenness - pain and swelling may appear during meals or even while sleeping.
There can be several reasons for uvulitis:
- Damage to veins in the organ.
- Exposure to pathogenic microbes or infection.
- Prolonged rhinitis.
- Sinusitis.
- Tonsillitis.
- Caries.
- Injury to an organ.
- Allergic reaction.
- Burn or hypothermia.
- Drinking too much hard alcohol.
- Blastoma.
- Taking certain medications.
As you can see, there are really a lot of reasons due to which the palatine uvula can become inflamed, but most often it is the presence in the oral cavity in one form or another of some kind of infection. To avoid the appearance of uvulitis, it is necessary to immediately begin treatment for any diseases in the throat and nose, preventing the development of serious complications.
Most often, when the disease begins to progress, the organ swells and reddens intensely. On examination, its increase in size is clearly noticeable, and sometimes it is covered with a translucent whitish coating in the form of a film. Those people who have had their adenoids or tonsils removed are much more prone to this disease: the infection in this case does not settle on them, but immediately passes to other organs.
Main symptoms of uvulitis:
- General increase in body temperature.
- Weakness and pain in muscles and joints, general weakness.
- Swelling and severe redness of the entire area of the soft palate.
- Persistent foreign body sensation in throat.
- Breathing problems, lack of oxygen. Appears only if the tongue is very enlarged.
- Severe pain when swallowing food or saliva.
- Noticeable swelling of the organ, its sagging right to the base of the tongue.
- Problems pronouncing a range of sounds, slurred speech.
- Significantly increased salivation.
- Sudden, causeless urge to vomit, vomiting attacks.
- If the cause of uvulitis was an allergen ingestion, then additional symptoms may include a skin rash, cough, itchy throat, severe runny nose, profuse watery eyes, itching all over the body, sometimes even breathing problems.
This condition usually comes on very suddenly, but should be treated at the first sign to prevent more serious complications in the future.
The most dangerous of these complications is a strong increase in the length of the tongue. If medical assistance is not provided in a timely manner, then the process will simply completely block the airways and provoke asphyxia. This will require extremely urgent help, because in the end it will lead to death.
In addition, it is important to understand that diseases that provoke uvulitis are dangerous in and of themselves. Therefore, if the tongue becomes inflamed, then you will need to quickly establish an accurate diagnosis and prescribe a complete treatment that will save you from this ailment.
Treatment of inflammation of the palatal tongue
Uvulitis is a disease that is not only quite dangerous, but also difficult to cure, so a comprehensive approach to its therapy is needed.
First of all, before starting the treatment of inflammation, it will be necessary to remove its main cause. Self-treatment is useless here, since you cannot establish the cause yourself. Depending on what exactly caused the inflammation, treatment will be prescribed. For example, if the matter is caries, then it will be necessary to eliminate it first. Atthroat diseases, as a rule, drug therapy is prescribed and supplemented with physiotherapy.
Medical treatment includes:
- Antihistamines to quickly relieve swelling.
- Glucocorticosteroids that relieve swelling and inflammation, as well as have analgesic and antitoxic effects.
- Diuretics. They eliminate swelling, removing excess fluid from the body. It is important to take them along with drugs that restore the right amount of calcium in the body.
- Antimicrobials that directly eliminate infection.
- Antibiotics that significantly slow down the inflammatory process and also eliminate all pathogens.
- Antiseptics, mainly sprays, for disinfection.
Physiotherapy is usually applied as follows:
- Phototherapy.
- Ultra-high frequency therapy.
- Treatment with electric currents.
- Various inhalations.
- Phytotherapy.
- Special diet.
- Acupuncture.
- Electrophoresis.
- Mechanotherapy.
- Treatment with therapeutic mud and electroplating.
- Magnetotherapy.
- Phototherapy with artificial short-wavelength ultraviolet quartz light.
All these procedures, of course, are applied in the throat area, where the uvula is located.
Tumors
If the uvula hurts a lot, but the cause cannot be established, then it is likely that the human oral cavitywas susceptible to tumors. A malignant or benign neoplasm can develop both in the nasopharynx and in the region of the organ itself, which causes a sensation of a lump in the throat, perspiration and discomfort. In this case, you need to visit an oncologist as soon as possible.
Uvula forked palatine
Sometimes parents are faced with such a problem as a bifurcated uvula in a child. This pathology is congenital, but in children it is often noticed not immediately. The fact is that usually this pathology is not at all dangerous in itself. It does not provoke speech problems in the child and does not manifest itself in any way in the future, so you should not be afraid of it.
Sometimes a bifurcated uvula can be a sign of a partial or complete cleft palate, but in this case there will definitely be other symptoms that doctors recognize even in the hospital.
Long uvula
The uvula of almost any length does not affect the lumen of the pharynx in any way and does not play a significant role in stopping breathing during sleep. However, if the tongue is too long, then it may well begin to provoke snoring, since this organ vibrates when air passes, which will cause characteristic sounds.
If a patient has such a problem, then often only surgical treatment can help him. It will be possible to partially or completely remove the organ, for example, using radio waves. As a result, the vibrations of the sky will decrease, and snoring will disappear.
However, such a positive result will be achieved only if the cause of snoring is in this process. But it can be caused by weight gain, a crooked nasal septum, polyps, adenoids, and a number of other reasons. Small tongue in throat may not be related to snoring.
In such a situation, soft palate surgery is not the best solution. In this case, for example, CPAP therapy can help. So before the operation on this organ, consult your doctor.
Short or missing uvula
As it was written above, as a result of an operation or from birth, a person's palatine uvula may be very short or may not exist at all. As a rule, this does not cause any pathologies and problems in life, so you should not worry about this in any case.
