The Mandible Bone

Is the only movable bone of the skull

It has a horizontal-shaped body and two
almost vertical rami
 Mandibular body has two surfaces (external and
internal) and two borders (superior and inferior)
EXTERNAL SURFACE ( ANTERIOR SURFACE)

Displays in the midline a faint ridge, often absent,

marking the site of mental symphysis, the line of fusion of
the two halves of fetal bone.

Inferiorly, the ridge encloses a triangular eminence, the

mental protuberance

Often, the base of the protuberance is centrally depressed

but elevated on each side of it as a mental tubercle.
 On each side of the median ridge and below the incisor teeth lies the
incisive fossa of the mandible, giving attachement to mentalis and
incisivus labii inferioris muscles
 Behind the fossa, the canine eminence of the mandible overlies the
root of canine tooth
 Midway between upper and lower borders of the mandibular body, in
line with the second premolar tooth ( sometimes in line with the
interval between premolars), lies the mental foramen transmitting the
mental vessels and nerve
 The mental foramen is the anterior opening of the
mandibular canal ( inferior alveolar canal) and is directed
bacward, lateralward and upward

 Laterally, the external surface is crossed by the oblique

line, which extends backward and upward from below
the mental foramen to the anterior border of the ramus

 Anterior part of the oblique line provides attachement to

depressor labii inferioris and depressor anguli oris,
posterior part of the line serves as attachement for
buccinator.

 To the area below the oblique line the platysma is

attached
 INTERNAL SURFACE (POSTERIOR SURFACE)
 Displays in the midline a faint ridge, marking the site of
mental symphysis.

 Inferiorly, the ridge is elevated by the usually paired

upper and lower mental spines (genial tubercles)

 The superior mental spine affords attachement to

genioglossus, the inferior mental spine to the geniohyioid

 On each side of the median ridge, the internal surface is

divided by the oblique mylohyoid line, extending upward
and backward from below the mental spines to a little
below the back of the third molar tooth.
 To the mylohyoid line is attached the mylohyoid muscle, close to
the posterior end of the line the superior pharyngeal constrictor
takes the origin above superior constrictor and behind the third
molar the pterygomandibular raphe is attached.

 Between the third molar and posterior end of mylohyoid line, the
lingual nerve comes in close contact with bone, often in a
shallow groove
 The mylohyoid line divides each half of the
internal surface into an upper sublingual fossa
accomodating the sublingual gland, and lower
submandibular fossa lodging the superficial part of
submandibular gland

 The posterior part of submandibular fossa displays

the mylohyoid groove, extending from the inner
aspect of the ramus and containing the
corresponding vessels and nerve

 Sometimes, above the mylohyoid line and medial

to the roots of molar teeth, a bony projection may
arise, termed mandibular torus
 Displays sixteen sockets, the
Superior border (alveolar
alveoli, for the roots of
process)
mandibular teeth

Between the alveoli are

Inferior border (base)
interalveolar (interdental) septa

At the point where is continues

Displays, on each side of the
with the lower border of the
midline, a digastric fossa, for the
ramus, a groove transmitting the
origins of the anterior belly of
facial artery is often present,
digastric.
termed the premasseteric notch
 MANDIBULAR RAMUS
 Has two surfaces ( lateral and medial) and four borders
( anterior, posterior, superior and inferior)
 LATERAL SURFACE (EXTERNAL SURFACE)
 Has oblique ridges toward the mandibular angle, collectively names
masseteric tuberosity
 The lateral surface affords attachement to masseter, except posterosuperiorly
where is overlapped by the parotid gland
 MEDIAL SURFACE (INTERNAL SURFACE)
 The mandibular foramen leading into the mandibular
canal and giving passage to the inferior alveolar vessels
and nerve

 Anteromedially, the foramen is guarded by an upward

tongue-like spine, the lingula, serving as attachment for
the sphenomandibular ligament

 From behind the lingula, the mylohyoid groove runs

downward and forward into mandibular body

 The medial surface of ramus has oblique ridges toward

the mandibular angle, named pterygoid tuberosity,
which provides attachement to medial pterygoid
 Descending from the tip of coronoid process is a ridge, the temporal
crest, which reaches the back of the third molar

 The triangular depression bounded medially by the temporal crest and

laterally by the anterior border of the ramus is called retromolar fossa

 The lowest part of the retromolar fossa provides attachment to the

posterior fibers of the buccinator, the upper part receives the
attachment of temporalis
 POSTERIOR BORDER
 Is thick and rounded, and relates to the
parotid gland
 ANTERIOR BORDER
 Is continuous above with the anterior
border of coronoid process and below
with the oblique line of mandibular
body
 It gives insertion to temporalis
 SUPERIOR BORDER displays two process
bounding the mandibular notch, the coronoid
process in front, and condylar process behind

 The mandbular notch gives passage to the

masseteric vessels and nerve

 The coronoid process is a triangular upward

projection, its anterior border is continous below
into anterior ramal border, its posterior border
forms the anterior boundary of the mandibular
notch, its lateral surface is flat, its medial surface is
marked by a descending idge, temporal crest
 The coronoid process serves as attachment for temporalis, which involves both
borders, apex and the entire medial surface

 The condylar process consist of two parts, the mandibular head and neck

 Mandibular condyle articulates with the mandibular fossa of temporal bone by an

articular disc
 The mandibular neck has four surfaces, the
lateral and posterior surfaces receive the
attachment of temporomandibular ligament,
medial surface is related to auriculotemporal
nerve, the anterior srface bears a depression, the
pterygoid fovea
 The edge between anterior and lateral neck
surfaces forms the posterior boundary of
mandibular notch
 The pterygoid fovea affords attachment to
lateral pterygoid muscle
INFERIOR BORDER is continous in front
with the mandibular base, behind it meets the
posterior border at the angle

The mandibular angle is typically everted in

males and inverted in females

On each side, the angle is marked by the

oblique ridges, constituting the masseteric and
pterygoid tuberosities.

Between the two tuberosities the

stylomandibular ligament is attached
 MANDIBULAR CANAL
 Begins at the mandibular foramen and runs
downward and forward within mandibular
ramus, then forward within mandibular body
and below the alveoli of molar teeth
 Below the interval between the premolar teeth,
the canal divides into mental and incisive canals
 The mandibular canal (inferior alveolar canal)
transmits the inferior alveolar vessels and nerve
MANDIBULAR
FRACTURES