Palatine bone

Dr Henry Knipe ◉ ◈ and Dr Liam Pugh et al.

The palatine bones are paired L-shaped bones joined at the midline. They form the hard palate with the maxillary bones. They also form part of the floor of the nasal cavity (the hard palate separates the oral cavity from the nasal cavity).

Gross anatomy

The palatine bones are located at the back of the nasal cavity, between the maxillae and the sphenoid. Each bone consists of a horizontal and perpendicular plate forming an L-shape. There are three processes, the pyramidal, orbital and sphenoidal.

They make structural contributions to the hard palate, nasal cavity, orbital floor and pterygopalatine fossa.

Articulations

with the palatine process of the maxilla anteriorly forming the transverse palatine suture
with its opposite counterpart in the midline
with the vomer
with the inferior concha
with both the body and the medial pterygoid plate of the sphenoid
with the ethmoid

Attachments

tensor palati to the posterior border of the horizontal plate
muscle of the uvula to the nasal spine of the horizontal plate
superficial head of the medial pterygoid muscle to the pyramidal process

Foramina

greater palatine foramen
- transmits the greater palatine vessels and nerve from the pterygopalatine fossa to the oral cavity
- formed by the greater palatine groove and converted to a canal by articulation with the maxilla
lesser palatine foramen
- transmits the lesser palatine nerves and vessels
sphenopalatine foramen
- formed by the sphenopalatine notch of the palatine bone articulating with the body of the sphenoid
- connects the pterygopalatine fossa to the nasal cavity and transmits the sphenopalatine artery and vein, nasopalatine nerve and posterior superior nasal nerves