title: Masticatory muscles and the skull: a comparative perspective.
abstract: Masticatory muscles are anatomically and functionally complex in all mammals, but relative sizes, orientation of action lines, and fascial subdivisions vary greatly among different species in association with their particular patterns of occlusion and jaw movement. The most common contraction pattern for moving the jaw laterally involves a force couple of protrusor muscles on one side and retrusors on the other. Such asymmetrical muscle usage sets up torques on the skull and combines with occlusal loads to produce bony deformations not only in the tooth-bearing jaw bones, but also in more distant elements such as the braincase. Maintenance of bone in the jaw joint, and probably elsewhere in the skull, is dependent on these loads.
authors.affiliation: Department of Orthodontics, University of Washington, Box 357446, Seattle, WA 98195-7446, USA. herring@u.washington.edu
authors.forename: Susan W
authors.initials: SW
authors.lastname: Herring
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001696:Biomechanical Phenomena; D001732:Bite Force; D006801:Humans; D007568:Jaw / Q000033:anatomy & histology; D008322:Mammals / Q000502:physiology*; D008409:Mastication / Q000502:physiology; D008410:Masticatory Muscles / Q000502:physiology*; D012886:Skull / Q000033:anatomy & histology*