Muscle · Head

Palatoglossus

Musculus palatoglossus

A small muscle that is easier to see than any other in this file: it raises the fold of tissue running down from the soft palate in front of each tonsil, and that fold — the anterior pillar of the throat — is exactly what it is. It runs from the tendon sheet of the soft palate downward, forward and outward into the side of the tongue. Contracting both sides draws the arches together like a curtain, sealing the mouth off from the throat so that a mouthful can be held while you breathe or chew. That is why it is grouped with the tongue muscles by position but with the palate muscles by nerve supply: it is the one tongue muscle NOT driven by the hypoglossal nerve.