ABSTRACT
Introduction: Greater palatine foramen is a very important landmark for administering anesthesia in maxillofacialand dental surgeries. Getting the anesthesia correct each time is a technical manoeuvre, which require sufficientamount of clinical skill and experience. The anatomical landmark has been described by many authors but asper the data in the eastern Indian population it is sparse. This study aims to define the greater palatine foramenaccording to various landmarks.Materials and Methods: One hundred and three skulls from two medical colleges of eastern India were studiedby the first and second authors separately and consecutively. All the skulls were examined for any broken partsin the hard palate and in the greater palatine foramen region. Only the skulls that were intact in these areas wereconsidered for the study.Result: The mean distance of the greater palatine foramen to the incisive foramen was 35.45mm in the males and34.82mm in the females. The average distance between the greater palatine foramen and the midline maxillarysuture was 13.22mm in the males and 12.98 mm in the females. In 85.92% cases we found the GPF to be oval inshape and it opened in to the oral cavity antero-medially in 58% of the cases. With respect to the molar teeth, in42.71% of the cases the greater palatine foramen was present opposite the anterior ½ of the 3rd molar.