Hi, this is Dr. Kingston,
and in this video we'll be talking about branches of
the maxillary artery found in the pterygopalatine fossa.
Our objectives for this video are to name
those branches and talk
about the structures that they supply.
Now, we've seen the maxillary artery
come up in a couple of different sessions already,
and we know that it has three parts.
The first part, the most proximal part,
is associated with the mandible.
The second is associated
with that medial pterygoid muscle.
So it was either sitting anterior,
posterior or completely subsumed
within that medial pterygoid muscle.
And now we're going to talk about this third part here,
which has branches that are associated with
the pterygopalatine fossa specifically.
Now, to see these branches,
we had to zoom in pretty
close up on this little region here.
So that's what I've done for you on the slide.
And we're going to start off just by naming
these branches and then we'll talk about
where they go and what they supply.
So coming off that third part of the maxillary artery,
we have the descending palatine artery,
the posterior superior alveolar artery,
the artery of the pterygoid canal,
the sphenopalatine artery.
And then the last branch will be
the infraorbital artery and its branch,
the anterior superior alveolar artery.
All right, so let's look at
these branches and talk about where they're heading now.
So we're going to start with
the artery of the pterygoid canal,
which is this small little branch right here.
And it's going to travel with the nerve of
the pterygoid canal through
the pterygoid canal, very appropriately named.
And from there it is going to supply
the tympanic cavity or the middle ear,
the pharyngotympanic tube,
and parts of the superior pharynx.
And as it does so, it's going to have
some pretty extensive anastomoses
with the sphenopalatine artery.
Alright, I'm gonna shift your attention now
to the descending palatine artery,
which can be seen right here.
The descending palatine artery, remember,
just exists within the pterygopalatine fossa.
As it exits the fossa and enters
into the greater palatine canal,
it's going to change its name to
the greater palatine artery.
The greater palatine artery
splits into two additional branches.
So the greater palatine continues on to
supply the hard palate, and the lesser palatine artery
then will go posterior to supply the soft palate.
And remember each of these is going to exit
this canal through the foramen of the same name.
So lesser palatine artery goes
through lesser palatine foramen.
Greater palatine artery goes
through greater palatine foramen.
The sphenopalatine artery will travel through
the sphenopalatine foramen into the nasal cavity.
Now, you've covered this pretty
extensively in the nasal cavity session,
so I will quickly review here.
Sphenopalatine artery gives off
the posterior lateral nasal branches,
which will supply the lateral wall of the nasal cavity.
And the posterior septal branch,
which will supply the posterior septum.
And at that posterior septal branch that is going
to participate in Kiesselbach's area, which remember,
is an area of anastomosis
between branches of the ethmoid arteries,
the superior label labial artery
and the greater palatine artery.
The infraorbital artery will exit
the pterygopalatine fossa through
the inferior orbital fissure,
which will bring it up into the orbit when we see
it here in this image there.
And then it will enter into
the maxilla and eventually emerge out
onto the mid face through the inferior orbital foramen.
In the orbit, it will have
some anastomoses with the ophthalmic artery.
And on the face here it will have
some anastomoses with the facial artery.
All in all this will end up supplying
the tissues of the anterior teeth,
the upper lip, and the lower eyelid.
And now here it is your final practice question.
The correct answer here is B, the facial artery.
The infraorbital artery has anastomosis on
the mid face with the facial artery.
That brings us to the end.
Thank you very much for watching.