n. surgery to alter the shape or physical characteristics of the palate. This can be plastic surgery of the roof of the mouth, usually to correct cleft palate or other defects present at birth. Other palatoplasty operations are carried out under local or general anaesthesia to shorten and/or stiffen the palate in the treatment of snoring or obstructive sleep apnoea. They may use conventional surgical techniques (*uvulopalatopharyngoplasty), laser (*laser-assisted uvulopalatoplasty), insertion of stiffening materials, or injection of sclerosants. It is also possible to use radiofrequency energy in a process called radiofrequency palatal myoplasty (RPM), also known as somnoplasty.
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