What is the maxillæ?

What it is

• The maxillæ are the largest bones of the face, excepting the mandible, and form, by their union, the whole of the upper jaw. Each assists in forming the boundaries of three cavities, viz., the roof of the mouth, the floor and lateral wall of the nose and the floor of the orbit; it also enters into the formation of two fossæ, the infratemporal and pterygopalatine, and two fissures, the inferior orbital and pterygomaxillary.
• Each bone consists of a body and four processes—zygomatic, frontal, alveolar, and palatine. The Body ( corpus maxillæ ). —The body is somewhat pyramidal in shape, and contains a large cavity, the maxillary sinus ( antrum of Highmore ). It has four surfaces—an anterior, a posterior or infratemporal, a superior or orbital, and a medial or nasal.