Frontal bone

Study entry

Parts

Unpaired bone of the neurocranium. The squamous part, flat, forms the skeleton of the forehead; the orbital part, horizontal, forms the roof of the orbits and most of the anterior cranial fossa. Between the two lies the supra-orbital margin. It has air spaces (the frontal sinus).

Joints

Sutures with the parietals (coronal), the nasals, the zygomatics, the lacrimals, the ethmoid and the sphenoid. In the adult the frontal (metopic) suture may remain at the glabella.

Palpation

The glabella, the superciliary arches and the supra-orbital margin, under the skin of the forehead.

Source: cap. 8, «Cráneo» y «Cráneo: fosas craneales» y tabla 8-2

Other structures in this region

• Thyroid cartilage
• Cricoid cartilage
• Arytenoid, corniculate and cuneiform cartilages
• Epiglottis (epiglottic cartilage)
• Membranes and ligaments of the larynx (conus elasticus and quadrangular membrane)
• Parietal bone
• Occipital bone
• Temporal bone