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• Behind the foramen spinosum is the spine of the sphenoid which
• Foramina of the incisive fossa (Nasopalatine nerves and vessels)
lies medial to the mandibular fossa for articulation with the head of
the mandible.
• The pterygoid plates of the sphenoid support the back of the
• In front of this is the articular eminence, onto which the head of the • Other features:
maxilla.
mandible moves when the mouth is open. • Between these two bones is the pterygomaxillary fissure which
leads into the pterygopalatine fossa.
The bones of the face (Figs 54.2 and 55.2) • The hard palate is formed by the palatine process of the maxilla
The bones of the face are suspended below the front of the cranium and and the horizontal plate of the palatine.
comprise the bones of the upper jaw, the bones around the orbit and • The teeth are borne in the maxilla.
nasal cavities and the mandible. • The maxilla contains the large maxillary air sinus.
• Bones: • The bones of the orbit: the orbital margins are formed by the
• Maxilla frontal, zygomatic and maxillary bones.
• Pterygoid plates of the sphenoid • The ethmoid lies between the two orbits and contains the ethmoidal
• Palatine air cells.
• Zygomatic • The lacrimal has a fossa for the lacrimal sac.
• Nasal • At the back of the orbit are the greater and lesser wings of the sphe-
• Frontal noid with the superior orbital fissure between them. Also the optic
• Lacrimal canal and the infraorbital fissure.
• Bones of the orbit and nasal cavities (see below) • The bones of the nasal cavity are the maxilla, the inferior concha,
• Foramina: the ethmoid, the vomer, the nasal septum and the perpendicular
• Supraorbital (Supraorbital nerve) plate of the palatine.
• Infraorbital (Infraorbital nerve) The mandible (Fig. 55.2) consists of the body and two rami. Each
• Mental (Mental nerve) ramus divides into a coronoid process and the head, for articulation
• Greater and lesser palatine foramina (Greater and lesser palatine with the mandibular fossa. The mandibular foramen transmits the in-
nerves) ferior alveolar nerve and vessels.

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