Submental artery

Editor-In-Chief: C. Michael Gibson, M.S., M.D. [1]

The submental artery is a branch of the facial artery that runs on the underside of the chin.

Structure

The submental artery is the largest of the cervical branches of the facial artery, given off just as that vessel leaves the submandibular gland: it runs forward upon the mylohyoid, just below the body of the mandible, and beneath the digastric muscle.

It supplies the surrounding muscles, and anastomoses with the sublingual artery and with the mylohyoid branch of the inferior alveolar artery; at the symphysis menti it turns upward over the border of the mandible and divides into a superficial and a deep branch.

• The superficial branch passes between the integument and depressor labii inferioris, and anastomoses with the inferior labial artery.
• The deep branch runs between the muscle and the bone, supplies the lip, and anastomoses with the inferior labial artery and the mental branch of the inferior alveolar artery.

Additional images

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  Superficial dissection of the right side of the neck, showing the carotid and subclavian arteries.