Skull Health Article

KEY TERMS

Atlas—The atlas is not part of the skull. It is the first of the seven vertebrae of the neck and the one upon which the base of the skull rests. It is also the bone around which the skull rotates.

Axial skeleton—The skeleton associated with the central nervous system—the cranium, all the bones of the vertebral column, the ribs, and the sternum.

Brain—One of the two components of the central nervous system (CNS), the brain is the center of higher thought and emotion. It is responsible for the coordination and control of all body activities and for the perception and the interpretation of sense information.

Bregma—The point where the coronal and sagittal sutures of the skull meet.

Calvaria—The skull cap, roof of the skull, or cranium without the facial bones attached.

Condyle—A rounded enlargement that has an articulating surface.

Coronal suture—The suture between the two parietal bones and the frontal bone in the skull.

Cranial bones—The eight bones of the skull that form the braincase, which encloses the brain. They are the parietals, the temporals, the frontal, the occipital, the sphenoid, and the ethmoid bones.

Cranial nerve—In humans, there are 12 cranial nerves. They are connected to the brain stem and basically 'run' the head as well as help regulate the organs of the thoracic and abdominal cavities.

Cranium—The bones of the head.

Ethmoid bone—Skull bone located behind the nose.

External auditory meatus—The passage or canal in the skull for the tissues involved in hearing.

Facial bones—The 14 bones of the skull that form the face and jaw. The paired facial bones are the lacrimals, nasals, zygomatics, maxillae, palatines, and inferior nasal conchae. The unpaired facial bones are the vomer, mandible and hyoid.

Foramen—A hole in a bone, usually for the passage of blood vessels and/or nerves.

Foramen magnum—The large opening at the base of the skull that allows passage of the spinal cord.

Fossa—A pit, depression, or concavity, on a bone or formed from several bones.

Lambda—The point where the sagittal and lambdoid sutures of the skull meet.

Lambdoidal suture—The suture between the two parietal bones and the occipital bone in the skull.

Mandible—The lower jaw bone.

Maxillae—The upper jaw bones, connected to the orbit, hard palate and nasal cavity.

Neurocranium—The braincase of the skull.

Process—A general term describing any marked projection or prominence on a bone.

Sagittal suture—The suture between the two parietal bones in the top of the skull.

Sinuses—Air-filled cavities of the skull. The ethmoid sinus is in the ethmoid bone, the maxillary sinus in the maxilla, the frontal sinus in the frontal bones and the sphenoid sinus in the sphenoid bone.

Skull—All of the bones of the head.

Sphenoid bone—An irregularly shaped bone located in front of the occipital bone in the base of the skull.

Spinal cord—The elongated part of the central nervous system (CNS) that lies in the vertebral canal of the spine from which the spinal nerves emerge.

Squamosal suture—The suture between a temporal bone and a parietal bone in the skull.

Squamous—Adjective meaning scaly, flat, and plate-like.

Splanchocranium—The facial bones of the skull.

Suture—The saw-like edge of a cranial bone that serves as joint between bones of the skull.

Vertebrae—The flat bones that make up the spine or vertebral column. The spine has 33 vertebrae.

Function

The skull encloses and protects the brain, provides a base for the attachments of the muscles of the head and neck, and provides a structural element to form the first sections of the respiratory and digestive tracts. The bones of the skull are very hard, and protection of the brain is undoubtedly their most important function.