| Descending palatine artery | |
|---|---|
 Plan of branches of internal maxillary artery. ("Desc. pal." visible in upper right.) | |
 Plan of branches of internal maxillary artery. (Artery not labeled, but region is visible.) | |
| Details | |
| Source | Maxillary artery (3rd part) |
| Branches | Greater palatine artery, lesser palatine arteries |
| Supplies | Hard palate,soft palate |
| Identifiers | |
| Latin | arteria palatina descendens |
| TA98 | A12.2.05.084 |
| TA2 | 4456 |
| FMA | 49791 |
| Anatomical terminology | |
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Thedescending palatine artery is a branch of the third part of themaxillary artery supplying thehard andsoft palate.
It descends through thegreater palatine canal with the greater and lesser palatine branches of thepterygopalatine ganglion, and, emerging from thegreater palatine foramen, runs forward in a groove on the medial side of the alveolar border of thehard palate to theincisive canal; the terminal branch of the artery passes upward through this canal toanastomose with thesphenopalatine artery.
Branches are distributed to thegums, thepalatine glands, and the mucous membrane of theroof of the mouth; while in thepterygopalatine canal it gives off twigs which descend in thelesser palatine canals to supply thesoft palate andpalatine tonsil, anastomosing with theascending palatine artery.
According toTerminologia Anatomica, the descending palatine artery branches into thegreater palatine artery andlesser palatine arteries.
This article incorporates text in thepublic domain frompage 562 of the 20th edition ofGray's Anatomy(1918)
