Location of Greater Palatine foramen in the Indian Population

Accurate knowledge of the location of Greater palatine foramen (GPF) holds importance not only for anesthesia and analgesia with regard to the Greater palatine nerve, but also for carrying out surgical intervention in the posterior palatal region. The morphometric study was carried out on 100 adult dry, unsexed Indian skulls. These skulls had fully erupted third molar teeth and were free of any pathological changes. The measurements were taken with divider, Castroviejo callipers, metal scale, flexible scale and digital vernier calliper. The statistical analysis indicated that there was no significant differences in measurements between the right and left sides with regards to distances of the GPF to the midpalatal suture and GPF to posterior border of hard palate. The most common position of greater palatine foramen was found to be opposite the third maxillary molar (77.14%).The bilateral symmetry between the sides of the skull was remarkable. The most common shape of GPF as per our study was oval (95.5%). GPF is a surgical landmarks which is important during resection of palatal tumor or incision and drainage of palatal abscess has to be done or when posterior palatine anesthesia is desired and as an alternative to posterior nasal packing and arterial ligation in epistaxis and is also important for prosthetic dentistry and comparative racial studies.