6. Examine the muscles of the soft palate associated with the auditory tube.
Note the hard palate, soft palate, uvula, the pharyngeal recess, torus tubarius, with the opening to the auditory tube. The rounded structure beneath the torus tubarius is the levator veli palatini muscle. Remove the mucous membrane to uncover it. Here, the muscle has been cleaned and you can see the muscle beneath the auditory tube and its insertion on the soft palate. Anterior to the levator veli palatini is the middle pterygoid plate and the tensor veli palatini muscle. Clean off the mucosa to expose these structures. Here is the medial pterygoid plate and the body of the tensor veli palatini muscle. Next, clean off the mucosa of the soft palate to see the insertion of the muscle and the pterygoid hamulus shown here. Here is the muscle which hooks around the pterygoid hamulus to insert on the soft plate. The hamulus is shown here. It has an aponeurotic insertion which spans out into the soft palate.