Mental_artery
Inferior alveolar artery
Artery found in the head
The inferior alveolar artery (inferior dental artery) is an artery of the head. It is a branch of (the first part of) the maxillary artery. It descends through the infratemporal fossa[1] as part of a neurovascular bundle with the inferior alveolar nerve and vein to the mandibular foramen where it enters and passes anteriorly inside the mandible, supplying the body of mandible and the dental pulp of the lower molar and premolar teeth.[2] Its terminal incisor branch supplies the rest of the lower teeth.[citation needed] Its mental branch exits the mandibula anteriorly through the mental foramen to supply adjacent lip and skin.[2]