Corpus: Buccal artery

The buccal artery is a small vascular branch of the maxillary artery that supplies the buccinator muscle and the cheek with arterial blood.

The buccal artery arises between the two heads of the lateral pterygoid muscle from the second, pterygoid section of the maxillary artery, a terminal branch of the external carotid artery. It then runs between the medial pterygoid muscle and the insertion of the temporalis muscle diagonally rostrally to the outer surface of the buccinator muscle. There it branches into several small branches that run into the muscle.

The buccal artery anastomoses with the infraorbital artery and with branches of the facial artery.