Structural characteristics and functional significance of the buccal fat pad (corpus adiposum buccae)

Corpus adiposum buccae (c.a.b.) was studied on 42 human subjects (fetuses and adults) using microdissection under magnifying glass after injection of the great vessels of the head with plastics, transparency technique of Spalteholtz and current histological methods. In fetuses, c.a.b. appeared as a well-developed mass located between Buccinator and inferior border of the Masseter. In adults, it emanated three prolongations among which the anteriorly directed molar prolongation was more conspicuous in edentulous old people. Externally, it was covered by a fine conjunctival wrap, which sent septa dividing the buccal fat pad in a series of minute fibroadipous compartments. C.a.b. contained a rich vascular network deriving from the branches of the facial and maxillary arteries. In this vascular net a more developed artery emanated branches to the prolongations of the c.a.b. The veins were tributaries of the pterygoid venous plexus. Beside the vessels, c.a.b. contained also lymphatics and myelinated nerves. The authors postulated that c.a.b. assumed the following functions: a) It filled up the masseter-zygomaticus-buccinator space forming an amortizing and a slipping platform for the masticatory muscles in action; b) in the baby, it resisted to the negative pressure which acted into the buccal cavity during sucking; c) its rich venous net, provided with valve-like structures, may be implicated in the exo-endocranial blood flow by means of the pterygoid plexus.