Head

Introduction

The human head (skull, lat. Caput) is the foremost part of the body. It contains:

  • Sense organs,
  • Organs of aeration and food intake
  • As well as the brain.

Bones

The bony skull consists of 22 individual, mostly flat bones. Almost all of these bones are immovably connected to each other; only the lower jaw bone (mandible) can be moved in the temporomandibular joint. The bony skull is divided into the facial skull and the cerebral skull, with the boundary between the upper edge of the eye socket and the upper edge of the external auditory canal.

Brain skull (Neurocranium)

The brain skull consists of 7 bones and thus forms both the skullcap (= skull calotte) and the base of the skull: The bones of the skull calotte are initially only connected by cartilage and only ossify in the course of life. One finds therefore still Fontanellen with babies, with what the forehead-Fontanelle and the occipital-Fontanelle represent the most important. The position of the fontanelles allows the midwife to feel, for example, in which position the child is born from the birth canal.

It is also possible to distinguish so-called cranial sutures, where the individual bones are connected. These are at the top of the skull: If these cranial sutures ossify with a time lag, cranial deformities can occur, e.g. : Boat skull, keel skull, etc. In the area of the base of the skull there are numerous openings through which structures of the nervous system in particular move towards the brain or away from the brain.

  • Occipital bone (occipital bone)
  • 2* Os parietal (parietal bone)
  • Os frontale (frontal bone)
  • 2* Os temporal (temporal bone)
  • Os sphenoidale (sphenoid bone)
  • The Lamdan suture,
  • The forehead seam,
  • The arrow seam and the wreath seam.

Facial skull (viscerocranium)

The bony facial skull consists of 15 bones, which form the face with eye, nose and mouth cavity: In the area of the facial skull there are also the so-called paranasal sinuses (Sinus paranasales): These are hollow spaces in the bones that border on the nasal cavity, which are lined with mucous membranes. These cavities are ventilated. If an inflammation of the sinuses occurs, this is called sinusitis.

  • Os ethmoidale
  • 2* Os nasal (nose bone)
  • 2* Maxilla (upper jaw bone)
  • 2* Os lacrimale (lacrimal bone)
  • 2* Os zygomaticum (cheekbone)
  • 2* Os palatinum (palatine bone)
  • 2* Concha nasalis inferior (lower nasal concha)
  • Vomer (ploughshare leg)
  • Mandible (lower jaw bone)
  • Sinus maxillaris (maxillary sinus)
  • Sinus frontalis (frontal sinus)
  • Sinus sphenoidalis (sphenoidal sinus)
  • Cellulae ethmoidales (ethmoid cells)