Objectives: To assess palatal mobility in post-tonsillectomy patients. Material and meth-
ods: This study was conducted in one year duration in Sohag University Hospital and consisted of
100 patients with ages ranging from 4 to 21 years. Inclusion criteria: history with previous tonsillec-
tomy at least since 6 months or more. Exclusion criteria: any neurological deficit, muscular disorder
or structural defects of the palate such as cleft palate or submucous cleft palate. All patients had
undergone ear, nose and throat examination. Palatal mobility was assessed through oral examina-
tion. Further assessing palatal mobility by endoscopic examination and videofluoroscopy was done
for those who have poor palatal mobility detected by intraoral examination. Result: Forty patients
(23 males, 17 females) had poor palatal mobility on oral examination. Fourteen patients (8 males, 6
females) had definite poor palatal mobility on endoscopic examination. On Auditory Perceptual
Assessment, 12 patients had closed nasality and 2 patients had mixed nasality. On endoscopic exam-
ination, 14 patients had a large adenoid. In 12 patients, the velopharyngeal orifice closure was
veloadenoidal closure while in the other 2 patients there was slight velopharyngeal incompetence
(coronal closure). Conclusion: Poor palatal mobility may be caused by malpractice of tonsillectomy
or it may be a sign that was present and missed by the otolaryngologist. Pre-tonsillectomy evalua-
tion of palatal mobility should be done by nasofiberoptic endoscope and/or videofluoroscopy. Also
post-tonsillectomy evaluation of palatal mobility should be taken in consideration if adenoidectomy
is needed to prevent possible postoperative open nasality.