An Elongated Mental Spine: Case Report

Abstract

AbstractThe mental spines (superior and inferior), also called the genial tubercles, are located in the midline on the lingual surface of the mandible. Normally, the mental spine consists of a superior pair and an inferior pair of prominences and is of small size. The mental spine provides muscle attachments to the genioglossus muscle, which attaches to the superior pair, and to the geniohyoid muscle, which attaches to the inferior pair. Here, we report a case of the mandible with an elongated mental spine harvested from a 57-year-old Caucasian woman’s cadaveric head. The dimensions of the elongated mental spine are 10.00 mm (length) × 2.72 mm (width) × 8.55 mm (height). Elongated mental spines are rarely reported as they are usually asymptomatic. Practitioners who intend to perform any procedures in the sublingual and submental regions should be aware of such structural variation.