VARIANT ANATOMY OF THE FACIAL INNERVATION AND THE BUCCAL FAT PAD IN THE MAXILLOFACIAL REGION

The questions of how an encapsulated, and therefore isolated, fat body can cross the branches of the facial nerve can be considered open. The goal was to study the variant anatomy of the syntopy of the branches of the facial nerve and the fatty body of the cheek. Anatomical material was collected from 2019 to 2022. The material for this study was 163 heads of adult men and women aged 46 to 94 years. Analysis of the significance of differences in groups was carried out using the methods of variation statistics in the licensed computer program “Statistica 6.0” (StatSoft, USA). 3 variants of the relationship of these anatomical structures were established and it is noteworthy that in 100% of observations the branches were represented by at least two trunks: 1 variant (37.42%; n=61)-the branches of the facial nerve pass directly along the surface of the buccal process of the fatty body of the cheek; Option 2 (33.74% n=55) – the branches of the facial nerve pass along the upper and lower edges of the buccal process of the fat pad of the cheek; Option 3 (28.83%; n=47) – the branches of the facial nerve pass directly through the thickness of the buccal process of the buccal fat pad. © 2024, Akra LLC. All rights reserved.