Nasal bone

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Bone: Nasal bone
Nasal bone visible at center, in dark green.
Cartilages of the nose. Side view. (Nasal bone visible at upper left.)
Latin os nasale
Gray's subject #37 156
Dorlands/Elsevier o_07/12598538

The nasal bones are two small oblong bones, varying in size and form in different individuals; they are placed side by side at the middle and upper part of the face, and form, by their junction, "the bridge" of the nose.

Each has two surfaces and four borders.

Contents

[edit] Surfaces

The outer surface is concavoconvex from above downward, convex from side to side; it is covered by the Procerus and Compressor naris, and perforated about its center by a foramen, for the transmission of a small vein.

The inner surface is concave from side to side, and is traversed from above downward, by a groove for the passage of a branch of the nasociliary nerve.

[edit] Borders

The superior border is narrow, thick, and serrated for articulation with the nasal notch of the frontal bone.

The inferior border is thin, and gives attachment to the lateral cartilage of the nose; near its middle is a notch which marks the end of the groove just referred to.

The lateral border is serrated, bevelled at the expense of the inner surface above, and of the outer below, to articulate with the frontal process of the maxilla.

The medial border, thicker above than below, articulates with its fellow of the opposite side, and is prolonged behind into a vertical crest, which forms part of the nasal septum: this crest articulates, from above downward, with the spine of the frontal, the perpendicular plate of the ethmoid, and the septal cartilage of the nose.

[edit] Ossification

Each bone is ossified from one center, which appears at the beginning of the third month of fetal life in the membrane overlying the front part of the cartilaginous nasal capsule.

It is not formed from endochondral ossification.

[edit] Articulations

The nasal articulates with four bones: two of the cranium, the frontal and ethmoid, and two of the face, the opposite nasal and the maxilla.

[edit] Additional images

[edit] See also

[edit] External links

This article was originally based on an entry from a public domain edition of Gray's Anatomy. As such, some of the information contained herein may be outdated. Please edit the article if this is the case, and feel free to remove this notice when it is no longer relevant.

Facial bones
v  d  e

maxilla: body of maxilla: Incisive fossa | Maxillary sinus | Canine fossa | Infraorbital foramen | Anterior nasal spine | Alveolar canals | Infraorbital canal | Pterygopalatine canal
Zygomatic process | Frontal process (Agger nasi | Anterior lacrimal crest) | Alveolar process | Palatine process (Incisive foramen | Incisive canals | Foramina of Scarpa | Premaxilla | Anterior nasal spine)

lacrimal bone: Posterior lacrimal crest | Lacrimal groove

zygomatic bone: Zygomaticofacial foramen | Zygomaticotemporal foramen | Zygomaticoörbital foramina

palatine bone: Pterygopalatine fossa | Pterygoid fossa | Horizontal plate (Posterior nasal spine) | Perpendicular plate (Pterygopalatine canal | Sphenopalatine foramen | Pyramidal process)
processes (Orbital | Sphenoidal)

mandible: body (Symphysis menti, Mental foramen, Mylohyoid line) | Ramus mandibulae (Mandibular foramen, Mandibular canal, Mandibular notch)

others: nasal bone | inferior nasal conchae (maxillary process) | vomer