Medial pterygoid plate

The medial pterygoid plate (or medial pterygoid lamina) of the sphenoid is a horse-shoe shaped process that arises from the underside of the sphenoid bone.

It is narrower and longer than the lateral pterygoid plate and curves lateralward at its lower extremity into a hook-like process, the pterygoid hamulus, around which the tendon of the Tensor veli palatini glides.