It's articulated in ball-and- socket fashion at the condylar process. The caput of this process fits into the mandibular fossa of the temporal bone, just in front of the external acoustic meatus, and nestled neatly under and slightly to the back of the articular tubercle of the zygomatic process. To the front of this atriculation is the protrusion called the coronoid process, which fits snugly beneath the zygomatic arch when the mouth is closed.
Peculiar features
- the largest and strongest bone of the face and the only one movable
- exposition to external agents due to teeth perforations through the jaw bone and mucosa
HISTOLOGY
-directly adherent to bone,without submucosa
-generally parakeratinized stratified squamous epithelium which means that the upper layer of cells is dead but retain their nuclei.
-characteristical presence of very long rete pegs and connective tissue papillae
The inferior alveolar artery courses inferiorly from the maxillary, enters the mandibular foremen, and courses in the body of the mandible, supplying the mandibular teeth.Numerous
muscular branches leave the maxillary artery during its course: especially important among these are the deep temporal artery which courses on the deep surface of the temporalis muscle, and the buccal artery which supplies the cheek region.
Peculiar features
1. TERMINAL CIRCULATION
The terminal branch of the maxillary artery is the sphenopalatine artery. It enters the pterygomaxillary fissure and will penetrate the sphenopalatine foremen to supply the soft palate and nasal regions. However, before leaving the infratemporal fossa, it gives off branches to the upper molar teeth (posterior superior alveolar), palate (descending palatine) and orbit (infraorbital).
2. GREATER BLOOD SUPPLY THAN OTHER BONES
Possible explanations:
This fast bone turnover is assured by:
mechanical hysteresis
complex pattern loading
effective response to distraction forces
increased PTH level
tooth movement
