Descending palatine artery

At a glance

English

Descending palatine artery

Latin (TA2)

Arteria palatina descendens

System

Artery

Region

Head

Side

Paired, left and right

About the descending palatine artery

The descending palatine artery arises from the third, pterygopalatine part of the maxillary artery, deep in the pterygopalatine fossa behind the maxilla. This last part of the maxillary artery also gives the sphenopalatine, infra-orbital and posterior superior alveolar arteries, among others.

From the fossa the artery runs downwards in the greater palatine canal, a bony passage between the maxilla and the palatine bone, together with the palatine nerves (greater and lesser) from the pterygopalatine ganglion. While still in the canal it gives off the lesser palatine arteries, which pass through the lesser palatine foramina to the soft palate and the palatine tonsil, where they link with the ascending palatine branch of the facial artery. The main continuation leaves the canal at the greater palatine foramen, near the third molar, as the greater palatine artery.

The greater palatine artery runs forwards in a groove on the underside of the hard palate, close to the inner side of the alveolar process of the maxilla. It supplies the mucosa, the palatine glands and the gums on the palatal side of the teeth. At the front it reaches the incisive canal, and its final twig passes upwards through the canal to meet a branch of the sphenopalatine artery on the nasal septum. Terminologia Anatomica therefore treats the descending palatine artery as ending in two parts, the greater and lesser palatine arteries.

The vessel is important in dentistry and in palate surgery. It can bleed when palatal tissue is taken for gum grafts, so grafts are cut away from the line of the vessel. In operations on the upper jaw that divide the maxilla from the skull base (Le Fort I osteotomy), the descending palatine arteries are at risk in the pterygopalatine region and are often deliberately preserved. Injecting local anaesthetic at the greater palatine foramen numbs the palatal gums by blocking the companion nerve.

Course and supply

Arises from

Third (pterygopalatine) part of the maxillary artery in the pterygopalatine fossa.

Ends in

Divides into the lesser palatine arteries to the soft palate and the greater palatine artery, which ends by rising through the incisive canal to join the sphenopalatine artery.

Supplies

Supplies the mucosa, glands and gums of the hard palate, the soft palate and the palatine tonsil region.