Anatomical and clinical considerations regarding the greater palatine foramen.

OBJECTIVE

In this study, we mapped the topography of the greater palatine foramen (GPF), within the South-Eastern European population, according to clinically identifiable anatomical landmarks.

MATERIALS AND

METHODS

We used 100 dry adult human skulls, of which 75 were bilaterally dentate, whereas 25 were partially edentulous.

RESULTS

The shape of the GPF was oval in 84% of the cases. The foramen was located internally from the third molar in 73% of the skulls. The greater palatine canal showed an antero-infero-medial direction in 82% of the cases. The average values of the distances between the GPF and the oral surfaces of the maxillary third molar, the medio-palatine suture, the posterior margin of the hard palate, the pterygoid hamulus and the pterygo-maxillary suture were 11.0 (SD 1.5), 14.5 (SD 0.8), 4.4 (SD 1.1), 12.0 (SD 1.8) and 10.5 mm (SD 1.3), respectively.

CONCLUSIONS

A thorough knowledge of GPF's various positions may assist the clinicians in providing improved surgical techniques in the area.