Clinically Relevant Terms Related to the Mandible and Temporomandibular Joint

Clinically Relevant Terms Related to the Mandible and Temporomandibular Joint:

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Mandible

All animals have two mandibles, not one; removing one entire mandible is a total mandibulectomy not a hemimandibulectomy

Body of the mandible

The part that carries the teeth; often incorrectly referred to as horizontal ramus

Incisive part

The part that carries the incisors

Molar part

The part that carries the premolars and molars; premolar-molar part would probably have been more accurate

Alveolar margin

Often incorrectly referred to as alveolar crest

Ventral margin

Free ventral border

Mandibular canal

Contains a neurovascular bundle; often incorrectly referred to as the medullary cavity of the mandible

Mental foramens or foramina

Rostral, middle or caudal mental foramina in the dog and cat

Ramus of the mandible

The part that carries the 3 processes; often incorrectly referred to as the vertical ramus

Angular process

Caudoventral process (in carnivora)

Coronoid process

Process for the attachment of the temporal muscle

Condylar process

Consisting of mandibular head and mandibular neck; often incorrectly referred to as condyloid process

Mandibular head

Articular head of the condylar process

Mandibular neck

Neck of the condylar process

Mandibular notch

The notch on the caudal aspect, between the coronoid and condylar processes; not to be confused with the facial vascular notch

Mandibular angle

Angle between the body and ramus of the mandible.

Facial vascular notch

Shallow indentation on the ventral apsect of the mandible, rostral to the angular process (absent in carnivores)

Mandibular foramen

The entrance to the mandibular canal

Intermandibular joint (mandibular symphysis)

Median connection of the bodies of the right and left mandibles (in adult Sus and Equus replaced by a synostosis), consisting of intermandibular synchondrosis and intermandibular suture

Intermandibular synchondrosis

The smaller part of the intermandibular joint formed by cartilage

Intermandibular suture

The larger part of the intermandibular joint formed by connective tissue

Temporomandibular joint (TMJ)

The area where the condylar process of the mandible articulates with the mandibular fossa of the temporal bone

Articular disk

A flat structure composed of fibrocartilagenous tissue and positioned between the articular surfaces of the condylar process of the mandible and mandibular fossa of the temporal bone, separating the joint capsule in dorsal and ventral compartments; often incorrectly referred to as meniscus.

Mandibular fossa

Concave depression in the temporal bone that articulates with the mandibular head

Retroarticular process

A projection of the temporal bone that protrudes ventrally from the caudal end of the zygomatic arch and carries part of the mandibular fossa</

Reference: Anon. Nomina anatomica veterinaria. 4th ed. Zurich, Ithaca: World Association of Veterinary Anatomists, 1994.
Scapino RP. The third joint of the canine jaw. J Morphol 1965;116:23-50.