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The mandible is the only bone that moves during mastication and other activities, such as talking. While these four muscles are the primary participants in mastication, other muscles help with the process, such as those of the tongue and the cheeks.
Muscles of the head, face, and neck. The muscles that power the jaw movements during chewing are known as the muscles of mastication or masticatory muscles, and are functionally classified as: [ 1 ] Jaw elevators: the masseter , temporalis , medial pterygoid and superior belly of the lateral pterygoid
Chewing or mastication is the process by which food is crushed and ground by the teeth. It is the first step in the process of digestion, allowing a greater surface area for digestive enzymes to break down the foods. During the mastication process, the food is positioned by the cheek and tongue between the teeth for grinding.
The trigeminal nerve carries general somatic afferent fibers (GSA), which innervate the skin of the face via ophthalmic (V1), maxillary (V2) and mandibular (V3) divisions. The trigeminal nerve also carries special visceral efferent (SVE) axons, which innervate the muscles of mastication via the mandibular (V3) division.
Buccal branch of the facial nerve (VII cranial nerve) Actions: The buccinator compresses the cheeks against the teeth and is used in acts such as blowing. It is an assistant muscle of mastication (chewing) and in neonates it is used to suckle. Identifiers; Latin: musculus buccinator [1] TA98: A04.1.03.036: TA2: 2086: FMA: 46834: Anatomical ...
In anatomy, the masseter [help 1] is one of the muscles of mastication. Found only in mammals, it is particularly powerful in herbivores to facilitate chewing of plant matter. [5] The most obvious muscle of mastication is the masseter muscle, since it is the most superficial and one of the strongest.
The buccal fat pad (also called Bichat’s fat pad, after Xavier Bichat, and the buccal pad of fat) is one of several encapsulated fat masses in the cheek. It is a deep fat pad located on either side of the face between the buccinator muscle and several more superficial muscles (including the masseter, the zygomaticus major, and the zygomaticus minor). [1]
The lateral pterygoid muscle (or external pterygoid muscle) is a muscle of mastication. It has two heads. It lies superior to the medial pterygoid muscle. It is supplied by pterygoid branches of the maxillary artery, and the lateral pterygoid nerve (from the mandibular nerve, CN V 3). It depresses and protrudes the mandible. When each muscle ...