Morphometric Analysis of Pterygomaxillary Fissure

Abstract

Pterygomaxillary fissure is located in the medial aspect of infra temporal fossa.It connects the infra temporal fossa with the pterygopalatine fossa, and transmits the terminal part of the internal maxillary artery.It is created via the deviation of the maxilla through the pterygoid process of the sphenoid bone.The main aim of the study is to measure the pterygomaxillary fissure height, width and distance from articular tubercle, zygomatic temporal suture, zygomatic bone.30 unsexed dry human skulls were taken from the Department of Anatomy, Saveetha Dental College and Hospital. Digital vernier caliper was used for measuring the length and width of pterygomaxillary fissure and its distance from anatomical landmarks.The average height of pterygomaxillary fissure was 1.7cms, width was 0.3cms, distance from articular tubercle to upper border [A-B] was 4.1cms, zygomatic temporal suture [A-C] was 3.7cms, zygomatic bone [A-D] was 3.7cms respectively.Our study has tried to locate the position of pterygomaxillary fissure from the three anatomical landmarks, this data may be full for surgeons in planning their surgery in the infratemporal region