The hard palate is primarily innervated by which maxillary nerve branch?

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Understanding how the hard palate gets its sensation involves mapping the branches of the maxillary division of the trigeminal nerve. The hard palate, especially its posterior portion and the palatal gingiva, is primarily innervated by the greater palatine nerve. This nerve travels through the greater palatine canal and foramen, delivering sensory fibers to the mucosa of the hard palate from the canine region backward, and it also gives nasal branches to the posterior nasal cavity as it courses there. The nasopalatine nerve supplies the anterior part of the hard palate near the incisors, but it does not cover the majority of the hard palate like the greater palatine nerve does. The infraorbital and anterior superior alveolar nerves mainly serve the midface and maxillary teeth/overlying gingiva, not the primary hard palate mucosa. So the greater palatine nerve best explains the main sensory supply to the hard palate.