Mandible
In jawed vertebrates, the mandible (from the Latin mandibula, 'for chewing'), lower jaw, or jawbone is a bone that makes up the lower – and typically more mobile – component of the mouth (the upper jaw being known as the maxilla).
"Mandibular", "Jawbone", and "Jawline" redirect here. For the 2019 Hulu film, see Jawline (film). For the 2020 French-Belgian comedy film, see Mandibles (film). For other uses, see Mandible (disambiguation), Mandibular (disambiguation), and Jawbone (disambiguation).Mandible
The jawbone is the skull's only movable, posable bone, sharing joints with the cranium's temporal bones. The mandible hosts the lower teeth (their depth delineated by the alveolar process). Many muscles attach to the bone, which also hosts nerves (some connecting to the teeth) and blood vessels. Amongst other functions, the jawbone is essential for chewing food.
Owing to the Neolithic advent of agriculture (c. 10,000 BCE), human jaws evolved to be smaller. Although it is the strongest bone of the facial skeleton, the mandible tends to deform in old age; it is also subject to fracturing. Surgery allows for the removal of jawbone fragments (or its entirety) as well as regenerative methods. Additionally, the bone is of great forensic significance.
Evolution[edit]
The mandible of vertebrates evolved from Meckel's cartilage, left and right segments of cartilage which supported the anterior branchial arch in early fish.[14]
In recent human evolution, both the oral cavity and jaws have shrunk in correspondence with the Neolithic-era shift from hunter-gatherer lifestyles towards agriculture and settlement, dated to c. 10,000 BCE.[15][16][17][18] This has led to orthodontic malocclusions.[15]
