The Probert Encyclopaedia of Medicine

MANDIBLE

The mandible (lower jawbone) is the only movable bone in the skull. It mounts the teeth and provides structure and protective support for the oral cavity. The mandible is articulated in ball-and- socket fashion at the condylar process. The caput of this process fits into the mandibular fossa of the temporal bone, just in front of the external acoustic meatus, and nestled neatly under and slightly to the back of the articular tubercle of the zygomatic process. To the front of this atriculation is the protrusion called the coronoid process, which fits snugly beneath the zygomatic arch when the mouth is closed. A curved depression lies between the caput and the coronoid process on this upper section of the mandible. The mandibular angles are the lower, back corners of the jawbone, while the ramus is the section on each side of the mandible between the caput of the condylar process and the angle. In the front of the mandible are the mental tubercles and protuberances which define the chin. On each side of the chin is an opening
called a mental foramen.
Research Mandible