Artery distribution in the prenatal human maxilla.

Differing opinions concerning the human maxilla and its morphogenesis lead to different concepts concerning the intrinsic arterial supply to the anterior portion of the maxilla and its incisors. Microscopic and radiographic analyses of appropriately perfused infraorbital and posterior superior alveolar arteries in more than 100 human fetuses from six months to term reveal that the posterior superior alveolar artery courses to the facial midline, supplying branches to the incisors and to the posterior teeth. This observation differs clearly from the classical description that the anterior superior alveolar artery, a branch of the infraorbital artery, supplies the anterior maxillary segment and its incisors as seen in the postnatal life.