The neglected maxillary process of the palatine bone

In most recent anatomy textbooks as well as in the latest anatomical nomenclature, the maxillary process of the palatine bone is not mentioned at all. The maxillary process is, however with rare exceptions, always present as an important part of the closure of the hiatus sinus maxillaris. In our material consisting of 200 disarticulated, macerated skull bones and 25 specimens of maxillary sinus, the maxillary process was missing in only 5 cases (2.2%). This process develops in the second year of life and displays different shapes. It can be long and slender or wide and round shaped. Its upper margin is more or less concave, corresponding to the margin of the hiatus over which it is bent. Its inferior margin can be smooth or irregular. In instances in which maxillary sinus is double, the os palatinum has two maxillary processes, so that both sinuses are partly closed with the maxillary process of the palatine bone.