The greater palatine canal (or pterygopalatine canal) is a passage in the

skull The skull is a bone protective cavity for the brain. The skull is composed of four types of bone i.e., cranial bones, facial bones, ear ossicles and hyoid bone. However two parts are more prominent: the cranium and the mandible. In humans, the ...

that transmits the

descending palatine artery The descending palatine artery is a branch of the third part of the maxillary artery supplying the hard and soft palate. Course It descends through the greater palatine canal with the greater and lesser palatine branches of the pterygopalatine gan ...

, vein, and greater and

lesser Lesser, from Eliezer (, "Help/Court of my God"), is a surname. Notable people with the surname include: * Adolf Lesser (1851–1926), German physician * Aleksander Lesser (1814–1884), Polish painter and art critic * Anton Lesser (born 1952), Bri ...

palatine nerves between the

pterygopalatine fossa In human anatomy, the pterygopalatine fossa (sphenopalatine fossa) is a fossa in the skull. A human skull contains two pterygopalatine fossae—one on the left side, and another on the right side. Each fossa is a cone-shaped paired depression deep ...

and the

oral cavity In animal anatomy, the mouth, also known as the oral cavity, or in Latin cavum oris, is the opening through which many animals take in food and issue vocal sounds. It is also the cavity lying at the upper end of the alimentary canal, bounded on ...

Structure

The greater palatine canal starts on the inferior aspect of the

. It goes through the maxilla and

palatine bone In anatomy, the palatine bones () are two irregular bones of the facial skeleton in many animal species, located above the uvula in the throat. Together with the maxillae, they comprise the hard palate. (''Palate'' is derived from the Latin ''pa ...

s to reach the palate, ending at the greater palatine foramen. From this canal, accessory canals branch off; these are known as the

lesser palatine canals The lesser palatine canals (also accessory palatine canals) are passages in the palatine bone that carry the lesser and middle palatine nerves and vessels. Structure The lesser palatine canals start from the greater palatine canal, and run with th ...

. The canal is formed by a vertical groove on the posterior part of the maxillary surface of the

; it is converted into a canal by articulation with the

maxilla The maxilla (plural: ''maxillae'' ) in vertebrates is the upper fixed (not fixed in Neopterygii) bone of the jaw formed from the fusion of two maxillary bones. In humans, the upper jaw includes the hard palate in the front of the mouth. The t ...

. The canal transmits the

descending palatine vessels The descending palatine artery is a branch of the third part of the maxillary artery supplying the hard and soft palate. Course It descends through the greater palatine canal with the greater and lesser palatine branches of the pterygopalatine ga ...

, the

greater palatine nerve The greater palatine nerve is a branch of the pterygopalatine ganglion. This nerve is also referred to as the anterior palatine nerve, due to its location anterior to the lesser palatine nerve. It carries both general sensory fibres from the maxi ...

, and the

lesser palatine nerve The lesser palatine nerves (posterior palatine nerve) are branches of the maxillary nerve (CN V2). They descends through the greater palatine canal alongside the greater palatine nerve, and emerge (separately) through the lesser palatine foramen to ...

Structure

See also

Additional images

References

External links