Skull Overview

Skull:

The skull comprise of 22 bones (binded by sutures) and houses the most important organs of the body.  The brain gives rise to 12 pair of cranial nerves which passes through foramen and fissure into the skull. All the nerves supply structures in head and neck except the 10^th (Vegas nerve) which supply the thorax and the abdomen. The skull is composed of two parts, the “Cranium” and the “Facial Skeleton” or the Viscerocranium.

The Cranium is further divided into:

1.       The Calvaria: that covers the cranium superiorly. Bones forming the calvaria are the paired perital and temporal bone, the unpaired frontal and occipital bone, and the sphenoid bone.

2.       And the Base where the brain rests in the anatomical position. It comprises of the paired temporal bone and the unpaired occipital and sphenoid bones.

Anteriorly, the facial skeleton is brought together by the frontal bone, maxilla, nasal and the zygomatic bone. They are discussed in detail in later sections.

The mandible is neither part of the Cranium nor the Facial Skeleton. We will review the osteology of the skull through different angles in the next sections.

Here is a list of bones that forms the cranium and the viscerocranium:

The Cranium consists of the following bones, two of which are paired.

·         Frontal bone: 1

·         Parietal bone: 2

·         Occipital bone: 1

·         Temporal bone: 2

·         Sphenoid bone: 1

·         Ethmoid bone: 1

The Facial Bones are (two of which are paired)

·         Zygomatic bone: 2

·         Maxilla: 2

·         Nasal bone: 2

·         Lacrimal bone: 2

·         Vomer: 1

·         Palatine bone: 2

·         Inferior nasal concae: 2

·         Mandible: 1