Inferior alveolar artery

Artery: Inferior alveolar artery
Plan of branches of internal maxillary artery. (Inferior alveolar labeled at bottom center.)
Plan of branches of internal maxillary artery.
Latin	arteria alveolaris inferior
Gray's	subject #144 561
Supplies	dental alveolus
Source	maxillary artery
Branches	incisor branch mental branch lingual branch mylohyoid branch

The inferior alveolar artery (inferior dental artery) is an artery of the face.

Course

Branches of the maxillary artery.

It descends with the inferior alveolar nerve to the mandibular foramen on the medial surface of the ramus of the mandible.

It runs along the mandibular canal in the substance of the bone, accompanied by the nerve, and opposite the first premolar tooth divides into two branches, incisor and mental.

Incisor branch

The incisor branch is continued forward beneath the incisor teeth as far as the middle line, where it anastomoses with the artery of the opposite side

The inferior alveolar artery and its incisor branch during their course through the substance of the bone give off a few twigs which are lost in the cancellous tissue, and a series of branches which correspond in number to the roots of the teeth: these enter the minute apertures at the extremities of the roots, and supply the pulp of the teeth.

Mental branch

The mental branch escapes with the nerve at the mental foramen, supplies the chin, and anastomoses with the submental and inferior labial arteries.

Mylohyoid branch

As the inferior alveolar artery enters the foramen, it gives off a mylohyoid branch which runs in the mylohyoid groove, and supplies the mylohyoid muscle.

Additional images

• 

  Mandibular division of trifacial nerve, seen from the middle line.

References

External links

• Inferior+alveolar+artery at eMedicine Dictionary
• lesson4 at The Anatomy Lesson by Wesley Norman (Georgetown University) (infratempfossaart)

This article was originally based on an entry from a public domain edition of Gray's Anatomy. As such, some of the information contained within it may be outdated.