Facial skeleton

Your face has many hard bones. These bones stay under your skin. They help make your face shape.

There are fourteen bones in your face. Some bones are in your nose. Two bones are in your cheeks.

The jaw is a bone too. It is called the mandible. It is often seen as separate.

Your bones come from small cells. These cells help build your face. They also help make your teeth.

People look different from each other. This happens because of your genes. Your genes decide your face shape.

Your face is made of many bones. These bones join to form the facial skeleton. This skeleton is part of your skull. The rest of the skull is the neurocranium. This part holds your brain.

There are fourteen bones in the human face. Two bones are called lacrimal bones. There are also two nasal bones. You have two maxillary bones. These bones make up your upper jaw. They are fused together. The mandible is your lower jaw. People often list it separately. Two zygomatic bones make your cheekbones. Two palatine bones are in your mouth. Two inferior turbinal bones are in your nose. The vomer is one bone.

Small cells help build these bones. These are called neural crest cells. They also help make your teeth. Your face shape can look different from others. This is due to biological inheritance. This means you get traits from parents. Specific genes control how your face grows. Some genes decide the shape of your nose. One gene, called EDAR, affects your chin.

Your face is built from a group of bones. This group is called the facial skeleton. These bones join together to form part of your skull. The rest of your skull is called the neurocranium. This other part holds your brain in place. The facial skeleton is also called the membranous viscerocranium. This name includes the mandible and other bone elements. These elements are not part of the braincase.

There are fourteen bones that make up the human face. Two lacrimal bones are located near your eyes. You have two nasal bones for your nose. Two maxillary bones form your upper jaw. These two bones are fused into one piece. The mandible is your lower jaw bone. It is often listed separately from the cranium. Two zygomatic bones create your cheekbones. Two palatine bones are in your mouth. Two inferior turbinal bones sit in your nose. The vomer is a single bone.

Scientists study how these bones grow and change. Some people include the hyoid bone in this group. This bone is part of the cartilaginous viscerocranium. The ethmoid bone is sometimes included too. Other times, the ethmoid and sphenoid bones are part of the neurocranium. These different views help us understand bone groups.

Special cells help build these facial bones. These are called neural crest cells. These cells also help make your teeth. They also help make the adrenal medulla. Some bones come from a group called the sclerotome. This comes from the mesoderm. In some fish, like Chondricthyes, these bones do not change via endochondral ossification.

Every person has a different face shape. This happens because of biological inheritance. This means you get traits from your parents. Specific genes control how your face develops. The genes DCHS2, RUNX2, GLI3, PAX1, and PAX3 shape your nose. The EDAR gene impacts how much your chin protrudes. These tiny instructions make your face unique.

The facial skeleton is a specialized group of bones. These bones connect to build a specific portion of the skull. The rest of the skull is known as the neurocranium. While the neurocranium protects the brain, the facial skeleton forms the structure of the face. In human anatomy, scientists sometimes call this group the membranous viscerocranium. This term includes the mandible and other dermatocranial elements. These elements are distinct because they are not part of the braincase.

There are fourteen individual bones that comprise the human facial skeleton. Two lacrimal bones are located near the eyes. Two nasal bones form the bridge of the nose. The maxilla consists of two bones that form the upper jaw. Because these maxillary bones are fused, they are often listed as one bone. Two zygomatic bones create the cheekbones. Two palatine bones are located within the mouth. Two inferior turbinal bones sit inside the nasal cavity. Finally, there is the mandible, which is the lower jaw. The vomer is a single bone found in the face.

Anatomists sometimes debate which bones belong to the facial skeleton. Some researchers include elements of the cartilaginous viscerocranium. The hyoid bone is a common example of such an element. Others may include the ethmoid bone or the sphenoid bone. However, these two bones are also frequently classified as part of the neurocranium. The mandible is another unique case in classification. It is generally considered separately from the cranium itself.

The development of these bones is a complex biological process. The facial skeleton is composed of dermal bone. These bones derive from neural crest cells during development. These same neural crest cells are responsible for making teeth. They also contribute to the development of the adrenal medulla. Some facial bones also come from the sclerotome. The sclerotome is derived from the somite block of the mesoderm.

Bone formation processes can vary between different types of animals. In Chondricthyes, which are cartilaginous vertebrates, bone development follows different rules. In these animals, the bones are not replaced via endochondral ossification. This is a different method of bone growth than what occurs in many other vertebrates. Understanding these developmental pathways helps scientists see how different species evolved.

Every human has a unique craniofacial form. These variations in shape are largely due to patterns of biological inheritance. Scientists use cross-analysis to study these differences. They look at osteological variables and genome-wide SNPs. This research has identified specific genes that control how the face develops. These genes act as instructions for the growing skeleton.

Specific genes are responsible for different facial features. The genes DCHS2, RUNX2, GLI3, PAX1, and PAX3 are very important. These five genes determine the morphology, or shape, of the nose. Another gene called EDAR plays a different role. The EDAR gene impacts how much the chin protrudes. By studying these genes, we learn how tiny biological instructions create the diverse faces we see in the world.