The human mandible: lever, link, or both?
Hylander ('78) recently published important new data on bite force in humans, and showed that the human mandible cannot function purely as a link during incisal biting. He concluded instead that the mandible acts as a lever. Reexamination of Hylander's data suggests that the mandible cannot function purely as a lever either, and in fact it probably functions simultaneously as both lever and link during incisal biting.
D001696:Biomechanical Phenomena; D006801:Humans; D008334:Mandible / Q000502:physiology*; D008409:Mastication