Temporal bone

Study entry

Parts

A pair of bones of the side and base of the skull, with a squamous part (flat and thin, covered by the temporalis muscle), a petrous part (at the base, between the middle and posterior fossae) and the mastoid region. It has air spaces.

Joints

Temporomandibular (mandibular fossa and articular tubercle with the head of the mandible); sutures with the parietal, the occipital, the sphenoid and the zygomatic (zygomatic arch).

Palpation

The mastoid process, behind and below the external acoustic pore.

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)
• Frontal bone
• Parietal bone
• Occipital bone