Maxillary prominence

Maxillary prominence
Diagram showing the regions of the adult face and neck related to the fronto-nasal process and the branchial arches. (Maxillary process visible at center right.)
Head end of human embryo of about thirty to thirty-one days.
Details
Precursor	first branchial arch
Identifiers
Latin	prominentia maxilaris
Code	TE E5.3.0.0.0.0.13
Anatomical terminology []

Continuous with the dorsal end of the mandibular arch, and growing forward from its cephalic border, is a triangular process, the maxillary process (or maxillary prominence), the ventral extremity of which is separated from the mandibular arch by a ">"-shaped notch.

The maxillary process forms the lateral wall and floor of the orbit, and in it are ossified the zygomatic bone and the greater part of the maxilla; it meets with the lateral nasal process, from which, however, it is separated for a time by a groove, the naso-optic furrow, that extends from the furrow encircling the eyeball to the olfactory pit.

The maxillary processes ultimately fuse with the lateral nasal and globular processes, and form the lateral parts of the upper lip and the posterior boundaries of the nares.

It is innervated by the maxillary nerve.

Human embryo from thirty-one to thirty-four days

Under surface of the head of a human embryo about twenty-nine days old.

The head and neck of a human embryo thirty-two days old, seen from the ventral surface.