University of Central Florida (UCF) ZOO 3733C Anatomy Lab Practical 1 Practice Test

Nerves to the palate use specific openings in the palatine bone. The lesser palatine nerve, which supplies the soft palate and palatine tonsil region, exits the skull through the lesser palatine foramen, traveling with the lesser palatine vessels. This is distinct from the greater palatine nerve that goes through the greater palatine foramen to the hard palate, the nasopalatine nerve that passes via the incisive foramen, and the mental nerve through the mental foramen. The mandibular notch is not a foramen at all. So the foramen that transmits the lesser palatine nerve to the palate is the lesser palatine foramen.