Greater palatine foramen

Greater palatine foramen
Permanent teeth of upper dental arch, seen from below. (Greater palatine foramen labeled at lower right.)
Base of skull. Inferior surface.
Details
Identifiers
Latin	foramen palatinum majus
TA98	A02.1.00.058
TA2	463
FMA	53173
Anatomical terminology

At either posterior angle of the hard palate is the greater palatine foramen, for the transmission of the descending palatine vessels and greater palatine nerve; and running anteriorly (forward) and medially (towards the center-line) from it is a groove, for the same vessels and nerve.

Variations

Greater palatine foramen

The greater palatine foramen (GPF) is related to the upper 3rd molar tooth in most of the skulls (55%), 2nd molar in (12%), between the 2nd and 3rd molar in (19%) and retromolar in (14%). The shape of the foramen is elongated antero-posteriorly; however, an unusually crescent shaped foramen is rare.^[1]

See also

• Greater palatine canal
• Lesser palatine foramina

References

This article incorporates text in the public domain from page 180 of the 20th edition of Gray's Anatomy (1918)

External links

• Anatomy photo:22:os-0607 at the SUNY Downstate Medical Center
• "Anatomy diagram: 05287.011-1". Roche Lexicon - illustrated navigator. Elsevier. Archived from the original on 2013-04-22.
• "Anatomy diagram: 34257.000-1". Roche Lexicon - illustrated navigator. Elsevier. Archived from the original on 2012-07-22.