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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).
This action causes the muscle to keep food pushed back on the occlusal surface of the posterior teeth, as when a person chews. By keeping the food in the correct position when chewing, the buccinator assists the muscles of mastication. [4] It aids whistling and smiling, and in neonates it is used to suckle.
This also supplies the tensor tympani muscle and the tensor veli palatini muscle. The medial pterygoid nerve is a main trunk from the mandibular nerve, before the division of the trigeminal nerve - this is unlike the lateral pterygoid muscle, and all other muscles of mastication which are supplied by the anterior division of the mandibular nerve.
The two mylohyoid muscles arise from the mandible at the mylohyoid line, which extends from the mandibular symphysis in front to the last molar tooth behind. The posterior fibers pass inferomedially and insert at anterior surface of the hyoid bone. The medial fibres of the two mylohyoid muscles unite in a midline raphe (where the two muscles ...
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 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 ...
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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 ]