Nerve · Head

Greater palatine nerve

Nervus palatinus major

The sensory nerve of the hard palate — the bony roof of the mouth. It descends from the pterygopalatine ganglion through the greater palatine canal, a narrow tube in the back wall of the maxilla, and appears in the mouth at the greater palatine foramen, level with the last upper molar. From there it runs forward in a groove in the palate as far as the region behind the front teeth, where its territory meets that of the nasopalatine nerve arriving from the other direction. It supplies the mucosa and glands of the palate and the gum on the tongue side of the upper teeth, and inside the canal it sends branches sideways into the lower part of the nasal cavity.