Impalement injuries of the palate.

In a series of 43 impalement injuries of the palate, 8 lesions were located in the dangerous peritonsillar area. All cases healed uneventfully. Posttraumatic thrombosis of the carotid artery as described in the literature seems to be very rare among such lesions. The spontaneous healing potential even of a perforating gap in the hard palate is so enormous that comparison with the healing in the cleft palate patient reveals a lack of healing capacity for this area in the latter.