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Home  »  Anatomy of the Human Body  »  pages 158

Henry Gray (1825–1861). Anatomy of the Human Body. 1918.

pages 158

boundaries of three cavities, viz., the roof of the mouth, the floor and lateral wall of the nose and the floor of the orbit; it also enters into the formation of two fossæ, the infratemporal and pterygopalatine, and two fissures, the inferior orbital and pterygomaxillary.
  Each bone consists of a body and four processes—zygomatic, frontal, alveolar, and palatine.

The Body (corpus maxillæ).—The body is somewhat pyramidal in shape, and contains a large cavity, the maxillary sinus (antrum of Highmore). It has four surfaces—an anterior, a posterior or infratemporal, a superior or orbital, and a medial or nasal.

Surfaces.—The anterior surface (Fig. 157) is directed forward and lateralward. It presents at its lower part a series of eminences corresponding to the positions of the roots of the teeth. Just above those of the incisor teeth is a depression, the incisive fossa, which gives origin to the Depressor alæ nasi; to the alveolar border below the fossa is attached a slip of the Orbicularis oris; above and a little lateral to it, the Nasalis arises. Lateral to the incisive fossa is another depression, the canine fossa; it is larger and deeper than the incisive fossa, and is separated from it by a vertical ridge, the canine eminence, corresponding to the socket of the canine tooth; the canine fossa gives origin to the Caninus. Above the fossa is the infraorbital foramen, the end of the infraorbital canal; it transmits the infraorbital vessels and nerve. Above the foramen is the margin of the orbit, which affords attachment to part of the Quadratus labii superioris. Medially, the anterior surface is limited by a deep concavity, the nasal notch, the margin of which gives attachment to the Dilatator naris posterior and ends below in a pointed process, which with its fellow of the opposite side forms the anterior nasal spine.


FIG. 157– Left maxilla. Outer surface. (See enlarged image)
  The infratemporal surface (Fig. 157) is convex, directed backward and lateralward, and forms part of the infratemporal fossa. It is separated from the anterior surface by the zygomatic process and by a strong ridge, extending upward from the socket of the first molar tooth. It is pierced about its center by the apertures of the alveolar canals, which transmit the posterior superior alveolar vessels and nerves. At the lower part of this surface is a rounded eminence, the maxillary