Palate Surgery

Tonsils and the palate are intimately associated with obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) and snoring, as the area behind the palate is usually the throat's narrowest point. Patients with OSA usually have an excessive amount of flaccid tissue in the oropharynx area that blocks the airway during sleep and cause snoring. Surgery aims to stiffen this flaccidness and decrease tissue redundancy. In most cases a combination of surgical procedures is done in order to rearrange the pharyngeal wall and open the airway, decreasing the possibilities of collapse.

For these procedures, outcomes can vary widely for individual patients and careful planning and judgment is mandatory. In cases of patients who may have socially disruptive snoring without significant obstructive sleep apnea, minimally invasive techniques performed as office procedures, including radiofrequency applications and palatal implants can be used in selected patients.