DISSECTION OP THE HEAD AND NECK. 



207 



TKe Palato-labial Artery. This vessel passes along the side of the 

 hard palate, resting in a groove on the bone, close to the alveoli. An 

 incision should be made down to the artery in this position, and it should 

 be followed upwards and downwards. It is accompanied by a satellite 

 vein and nerve. The vessel is the continuation of the internal maxillary 



Fig. 24. 



Hard Palate : 1. Palato-labial artery of right siiie ; 2. Inosculation of right and left arteries, 

 forming a single labial artery which passes forwards through incisor foramen ; 3. Bar of carti- 

 lage under which palato-labial runs. 



artery. Beginning at the maxillary hiatus, it reaches the upper extremity 

 of the palate by traversing the palatine canal. It descends at the side 

 of the' palate, and at the level of the corner incisor it curves in- 

 wards towards the incisor foramen, where, on the middle line, it unites 

 with the vessel of the opposite side. The single labial vessel resulting 

 from this union passes forwards through the incisor foramen to reach the 



