Maxillary artery

At a glance

English

Maxillary artery

Latin (TA2)

Arteria maxillaris

System

Artery

Region

Head

Side

Paired, left and right

About the maxillary artery

The maxillary artery begins deep to the mandibular neck, inside the parotid gland, where the external carotid artery ends by splitting into it and the smaller superficial temporal artery. From there it runs forwards and inwards through the infratemporal fossa to reach the pterygopalatine fossa, a small space behind the maxilla. Its many branches serve the deep tissues of the face. The vessel was once called the internal maxillary artery, a name that separated it from the facial artery.

Anatomists split its course into three parts, using the lateral pterygoid muscle as the guide. The first, mandibular part runs horizontally between the mandibular neck and the sphenomandibular ligament, just below the auriculotemporal nerve. Its branches travel through bony openings: the deep auricular and anterior tympanic arteries to the ear, the middle and accessory meningeal arteries into the skull, and the inferior alveolar artery into the mandibular canal to supply the lower teeth.

The second, pterygoid part climbs obliquely forwards across the lateral pterygoid, usually on its superficial face but often on its deep face, and gives muscular branches: the masseteric, anterior and posterior deep temporal, pterygoid and buccal arteries. The third part then slips between the two heads of the lateral pterygoid into the pterygopalatine fossa beside the pterygopalatine ganglion. Here it gives the posterior superior alveolar, infraorbital, descending palatine, pharyngeal and pterygoid canal branches, and ends as the sphenopalatine artery to the nasal cavity.

Two branches stand out clinically. The middle meningeal artery enters the skull through the foramen spinosum and runs under the pterion, where a skull fracture can tear it and cause an extradural haematoma. The sphenopalatine artery is the usual source of severe bleeding from the back of the nose, and it can be tied or blocked in the pterygopalatine fossa to control it. Dental anaesthesia and jaw surgery also rely on knowing the course of the inferior alveolar and posterior superior alveolar branches.

Course and supply

Arises from

The bigger terminal branch of the external carotid artery, arising deep to the mandibular neck within the parotid gland.

Ends in

Ends in the pterygopalatine fossa as the sphenopalatine artery, after giving branches from its mandibular, pterygoid and pterygopalatine parts.

Supplies

Supplies the mandible and maxilla with their teeth, the muscles of mastication, the dura of the middle cranial fossa, the nasal cavity, palate, and parts of the ear and pharynx.