The medial pterygoid, along with the masseter allows the jaw to move in a vertical direction as it contracts and relaxes.

The superior portion of the pterygoid processes are fused anteriorly; a vertical groove, the pterygopalatine fossa, descends on the front of the line of fusion.

The plates are separated below by an angular cleft, the pterygoid notch, the margins of which are rough for articulation with the pyramidal process of the palatine bone.

The pharyngeal aponeurosis is attached to the entire length of the posterior edge of the medial plate, and the constrictor pharyngis superior takes origin from its lower third.

Projecting backward from near the middle of the posterior edge of this plate is an angular process, the processus tubarius, which supports the pharyngeal end of the Eustachian tube.