Oral and Maxillofacial Anatomy

Abstract

Human skull lies above the spine and consists of 23 bones. The skull is divided into two parts: the viscerocranium and the neurocranium. There are eight cranial bones, including paired temporal bones and parietal bones, unpaired frontal bone, sphenoid bone, ethmoid bone, and occipital bone, together forming the cranial cavity and accommodating the brain tissue. There are 15 bones of facial cranium, including paired nasal bones, lacrimal bones, maxillary bones, palatine bones, inferior nasal bones, and unpaired mandible, vomer, and hyoid bone, forming a facial framework, among which the mandibles and paired temporal bones form a movable mandibular joint, enabling the mandible to function in complex oral physiological motions [1, 9]. In this chapter, only bones of facial cranium and bones like sphenoid bone, temporal bones, etc. that are closely related to the oral surgery shall be concerned.