"Hearst Magazines and Yahoo may earn commission or revenue on some items through these links." That dangly thing in the back of your throat (a.k.a. your uvula) is pretty important—it helps you swallow ...

In the case of a cleft palate, the sides don't meet up and there is a gap in the roof of the mouth.

It was sometime around his freshman year in high school that Sam Ireland started pulling on his uvula — you know, that dangly piece of flesh at the back of your throat. Tugging on it didn't make him ...