The lingual artery arises from which vessel?

Correct answer: D. The external carotid artery

• A. The facial artery is a separate, more superior anterior branch of the external carotid. The two occasionally share a common linguofacial trunk, but the lingual is not a branch of the facial.
• B. The internal carotid gives off no branches in the neck at all — it runs to the cranial base and supplies the brain and orbit.
• C. The inferior alveolar artery is a branch of the MAXILLARY artery, itself a terminal branch of the external carotid. It supplies the mandibular teeth, not the tongue.
• D. CORRECT. The LINGUAL ARTERY is a direct anterior branch of the EXTERNAL CAROTID ARTERY, arising at the level of the greater horn of the hyoid, between the superior thyroid artery below and the facial artery above. It supplies the tongue, the floor of the mouth and the sublingual gland.

Note: Mnemonic for the external carotid branches from below upward: Some Anatomists Like Freaking Out Poor Medical Students — Superior thyroid, Ascending pharyngeal, Lingual, Facial, Occipital, Posterior auricular, Maxillary, Superficial temporal. Clinical relevance: perforating the lingual plate during implant placement in the anterior mandible can lacerate the sublingual branch and produce a rapidly expanding floor-of-mouth haematoma that obstructs the airway.