Comparison bilaterally of lingual and facial arterial rami in the mandibulo‐perimandibular complex: Arterioradiographic models for surgical consideration

Abstract

AbstractAnatomic illustrations and arterioradiograms of the facial, submental, lingual and sublingual arteries, and their primary branches in the mandibulo‐perimandibular complex are routinely demonstrated unilaterally; illustration and comparison bilaterally have not been documented. The unilateral illustration mode erroneously implies arterioanatomic similarity contralaterally. Mandibulo‐perimandibular arteries in 50 stillborn human fetuses and 50 human adult cadavera were assessed. Head and neck arteries of fetal subjects were perfused with a radiopaque perfusant via the ascending thoracic aorta. Then the entire mandibular complex and tongue of each fetus was excised en bloc and radiographed from above the tongue. The radiograms showed 1) that sublingual and submental arteries and their primary rami differ in size, number, arrangement, and distribution unilaterally, as well as bilaterally and 2) that the entire mandibular body complex (including periosteum, cortex, spongiosa, and dentoparadontal structures) receives substantial sources of supply via the facial, submental, and sublingual arteries (extrinsic sources). The facial and lingual arteries and their ramifications in the adult mandibular complex were demonstrated by gross dissection. Comparison between fetal and adult mandibular arterial anatomies showed remarkable similarity. Furthermore, the results of this arterio‐anatomic assessment and the results of concurrent, independent, experimental bone surgical studies (Hadidi, Doctoral dissertation, Medical College of Wisconsin, Milwaukee 1985) favor a growing opinion that rami from the facial, submental, and sublingual arteries (extrinsic sources) to the mandibular body are more essential to its need than is commonly believed. © 1993 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.