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The four classical muscles of mastication elevate the mandible (closing the jaw) and move it forward/backward and laterally, facilitating biting and chewing. Other muscles are responsible for opening the jaw, namely the geniohyoid , mylohyoid , and digastric muscles (the lateral pterygoid may play a role).
In anatomy, the temporalis muscle, also known as the temporal muscle, is one of the muscles of mastication (chewing). It is a broad, fan-shaped convergent muscle on each side of the head that fills the temporal fossa , superior to the zygomatic arch so it covers much of the temporal bone . [ 1 ]
The sphenomandibularis is a muscle attaching to the sphenoid bone and the mandible. [1] [2] It is a muscle of mastication. [3]Unlike most of the muscles of the human body, which had been categorized several centuries ago, the sphenomandibularis was discovered in the mid-1990s at the University of Maryland at Baltimore.
A concerted effort of the lateral pterygoid muscles helps in lowering the mandible and opening the jaw. Unilateral action of a lateral pterygoid muscle causes contralateral excursion (a form of mastication), usually performed in concert with the medial pterygoids. [citation needed] When they work independently, they can move the mandible side ...
The digastric muscle (also digastricus) (named digastric as it has two 'bellies') is a bilaterally paired suprahyoid muscle located under the jaw.Its posterior belly is attached to the mastoid notch of temporal bone, and its anterior belly is attached to the digastric fossa of mandible; the two bellies are united by an intermediate tendon which is held in a loop that attaches to the hyoid bone.
The coronoid head of the masseter's tendon and muscle fibers run posterolaterally from the coronoid process of the mandible towards the posterior third of the zygomatic arch. Its function is believed to be the retraction of the mandible and the stabilization of the mandibular coronoid process. [6] [7]
At its junction with the posterior border is the angle of the mandible, which may be either inverted or everted and is marked by rough, oblique ridges on each side, for the attachment of the masseter laterally, and the medial pterygoid muscle medially; the stylomandibular ligament is attached to the angle between these muscles. The anterior ...
It arises from the outer surfaces of the alveolar processes of the maxilla and mandible, corresponding to the three pairs of molar teeth and in the mandible, it is attached upon the buccinator crest posterior to the third molar; [5] and behind, from the anterior border of the pterygomandibular raphe which separates it from the constrictor pharyngis superior.