The palatoglossus muscles couple the soft palate to the base of the tongue.
Mandibular advancement tenses the palatoglossus muscles and pulls the soft palate forward.
In the awake patient, the tensor veli palatini muscles perform this function. Advancing the mandible and suspending it from the upper jaw decompresses tissues around the pharynx and allows the pharynx to expand. The pterygomandibular raphe runs virtually parallel to the palatoglossus muscles and couples the pharyngeal constrictors to the mandible. This allows mandibular advancement to tense the pharyngeal constrictors which helps to stabilize the lateral pharyngeal walls.