Mandible

The lower jaw or jaw ( mandible Latin, from Mandere "chew ") is a bone of the facial skeleton. He is the moving of the jaw bone in mammals.

Construction

The mandible consists of the horseshoe-shaped body of the mandible ( mandibular ), the front end supports the chin, and on both sides of an ascending ramus ( ramus ). A muscle extension ( coronoid process ) for preparation of the temporalis muscle and the articular process ( condylar process ) is located on the latter with the mandibular condyle ( head of the mandible ), which forms the jaw joint. The notch between the muscle extension ( formerly the old anatomical nomenclature as muscular process referred to ) and the articular process (formerly called the old anatomical nomenclature as articular process ) is called the mandibular notch.

At the lower jaw, the four muscles of mastication put on, ensure that the jaw closure ( occlusion).

On the inside of the mandible sits a bone tongue ( lingula of the mandible ), the mandibular foramen ( lower jaw hole ) covered. This hole is the entrance of the inferior alveolar nerve ( from the mandibular nerve of the trigeminal nerve ) and the inferior alveolar artery and vein. The nerve runs in the mandibular canal ( mandibular ) under the root tips of posterior teeth along and innervates the alveoli and teeth in the lower jaw. The terminal branch leaves as the mental nerve to the mandibular body at the mental foramen ( hole chin ) in the area of the premolars. The blood supply of the mandible via the inferior alveolar artery.

• Lower jaw of the people

The lower jaw from behind