Muscles of Mastication

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Introduction and Overview

• The muscles of mastication are a group of muscles responsible for the chewing movement of the mandible at the temporomandibular (TMJ) joint, they enhance the process of eating, they assist in grinding food, and also function to approximate the teeth.

• The four main muscles of mastication originate from the surface of the skull and they attach onto the rami of the mandible at the TMJ.

• The movement performed by these muscles is: elevation, depression, protrusion, retraction, and side to side movement.

• Unlike the muscles of facial expression that are innervated by the facial nerve (CN VII), the muscles of mastication are innervated by motor branches of the mandibular division of the trigeminal nerve (CNV3), while the main arterial supply is derived from branches of the maxillary artery.

Description

The muscles of mastication can be divided into the primary muscles and secondary or accessory muscles. The primary muscles include:

• Masseter
• Temporalis
• Lateral pterygoid
• Medial pterygoid

The secondary or accessory muscles are;

• Buccinator
• Suprahyoid muscles (digastric muscle, mylohyoid muslce, and geniohyoid muscle)
• Infrahyoid muscles (the sternohyoid, sternothyroid, thyrohyoid, and omohyoid muscle)

We will examine the muscles separately.

Masseter

Resources

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