Westmoreland E E, Blanton P L
Anat Rec. 1982 Dec;204(4):383-8. doi: 10.1002/ar.1092040412.
Three hundred dry, adult human skulls, of East Indian ethnic background, and homogenous in arch form and full eruption of third molars, were examined to measure the location of the greater palatine foramen. The greater palatine foramen was found consistently to lie 1.5 cm from the palatal midline and 0.19 cm from the posterior border of the hard palate. This relationship is suggested as a more accurate method of locating the foramen clinically. The usually accepted description (opposite the second molar) of the relative position of the greater palatine foramen to the upper teeth held in only 9.7% of the skulls studied. This study shows the most common position of the foramen to be opposite or distal to the third molar (57%). The direction of opening of the foramen into the oral cavity was observed to be in an inferior or vertical direction in 247 (82%) of the 300 skulls; in 53 (18%) of the skulls the direction was anterior or horizontal. A bony projection, similar to the mandibular lingula, was observed extending from the posterior margin of the foramen in 95 (16%) of the 600 separate foramina examined. The bilateral symmetry between the sides of the skulls studied was remarkable.
对300个具有东印度人种背景、牙弓形态均一且第三磨牙完全萌出的干燥成人颅骨进行检查，以测量腭大孔的位置。结果发现，腭大孔始终位于距腭中线1.5厘米处，距硬腭后缘0.19厘米处。这种关系被认为是临床上定位该孔更准确的方法。在研究的颅骨中，只有9.7%的颅骨中腭大孔相对于上牙的相对位置符合通常所接受的描述（与第二磨牙相对）。本研究表明，该孔最常见的位置是与第三磨牙相对或在其远中（57%）。在300个颅骨中的247个（82%）中，观察到该孔向口腔开口的方向为向下或垂直方向；在53个（18%）颅骨中，方向为向前或水平方向。在所检查的600个单独的孔中，有95个（16%）观察到有一个类似于下颌小舌的骨突从孔的后缘伸出。所研究的颅骨两侧之间的双侧对称性非常明显。
