Lateral pterygoid muscle

Origin: Great wing of sphenoid and pterygoid plate

Insertion: Condyle of mandible

Artery: Pterygoid branches of maxillary artery

Nerve: External pterygoid nervefrom the mandibular nerve

Action: Depresses mandible

Description:
The lateral pterygoid is a short, thick muscle, somewhat conical in form, which extends almost horizontally between the infratemporal fossa and the condyle of the mandible. It arises by two heads; an upper from the lower part of the lateral surface of the great wing of the sphenoid and from the infratemporal crest; a lower from the lateral surface of the lateral pterygoid plate. Its fibers pass horizontally backward and lateralward, to be inserted into a depression in front of the neck of the condyle of the mandible, and into the front margin of the articular disk of the temporomandibular articulation.