Given how frequently doctors look in peoples' mouths, physicians probably get asked this question a dozen times a day by curious patients. This question of uvular function also extended into ancient times with a variety of theories proposed over the years... Hippocrates and Aristotle in the 4th century B.C. and Berenargio da Carpri in 1900 referred to the uvula only as a source of possible inflammation and edema capable of causing suffocation. Galen (122-199 A.D.) considered it to be…