Inferior Oblique View of Bones of the Oral Cavity
5803
Surgical Correlation
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Inferior oblique view of bones of the oral cavity. In this perspective, the mouth is open to expose the hard palate consisting of the palatine processes of the maxillary bones, which contain the teeth, and the horizontal plate of the palatine bone posteriorly. Medial to the third molars are the greater palatine foramina for neurovasculature of the same name, which supply most of the hard palate. Posterior to these are the lesser palatine foramina for neurovasculature that supply the soft palate. Behind the maxillary bone is a portion of the pterygoid process of the sphenoid. Lateral to this is the greater wing of the sphenoid containing the foramen ovale and foramen spinosum, which open into the floor of the middle cranial fossa. The squamous part of the temporal bone forms the remainder of the floor of the middle fossa and contains the root of the zygomatic arch. The mandible consists of several parts; a midline mental/parasymphyseal area anteriorly, the body, and the ramus. The ramus projects superiorly from the body (at the angle of the mandible) and contains the coronoid process anteriorly and the condyle posteriorly that fits into the mandibular fossa. Posterior to the condyle is the tympanic part of the temporal bone and behind this, the mastoid part. (Image courtesy of AL Rhoton, Jr.)