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The lingual artery arises from the external carotid between the superior thyroid artery and facial artery. It can be located easily in the tongue.
It then curves downward and forward, forming a loop which is crossed by the hypoglossal nerve. It then passes beneath the digastric muscle and stylohyoid muscle running horizontally forward, beneath the hyoglossus. This takes it through the sublingual space. Finally, ascending almost perpendicularly to the tongue, it turns forward on its lower surface as far as the tip of the tongue, now called the deep lingual artery (profunda linguae).
It lies on the lateral side of the genioglossus, the main large extrinsic tongue muscle, accompanied by the lingual nerve. However, as seen in the picture, the deep lingual artery passes inferior to the hyoglossus (the cut muscle on the bottom) while the lingual nerve (not pictured) passes superior to it (for a comparison, the hypoglossal nerve, pictured, passes superior to the hyoglossus). At the tip of the tongue, it is said to anastomose with the artery of the opposite side, but this is denied by Josef Hyrtl. In the mouth, these vessels are placed one on either side of the frenulum linguæ.
It supplies the gland and gives branches to the mylohyoideus and neighboring muscles, and to the mucous membrane of the mouth and gums.
One branch runs behind the alveolar process of the Human mandible in the substance of the gum to anastomose with a similar artery from the other side; another pierces the mylohyoideus and anastomoses with the submental branch of the facial artery.
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