Oral Cavity Flashcards

Flashcards covering the anatomy and landmarks of the oral cavity.

What are the boundaries of the oral cavity?

The oral cavity begins at the lips and cheeks and extends posteriorly to the area of the palatine tonsils.

What marks the end of the oral cavity?

The oral cavity ends posterior to the tonsillar pillars, where the oral pharynx begins.

What two systems share a common pathway between the oral pharynx and laryngeal pharynx?

The digestive and respiratory systems.

What are the two main parts of the oral cavity?

The vestibule and the oral cavity proper.

Define the vestibule in the oral cavity.

The space between the lips or cheeks and the teeth.

Define the oral cavity proper.

The area surrounded by teeth or alveolar ridges back to the palatine tonsils, including the region from the floor of the mouth upward to the hard and soft palates.

What is the vermilion zone?

A transitional zone of reddish tissue between the skin of the face and the mucosa of the oral cavity.

What is the philtrum?

An indentation at the midline on the skin of the upper lip, derived from the embryonic medial nasal processes.

What forms the lateral border of the vestibule?

The cheeks (bucca).

What muscle largely forms the cheek?

The buccinator muscle.

What is the mucobuccal or mucolabial fold?

The mucosa of the lips or cheeks that turns toward the gingival tissue.

What is the alveolar mucosa?

Movable mucosa lying against alveolar bone, generally reddish in color due to blood vessels underneath thin mucosa.

What marks the mucogingival junction?

Where alveolar mucosa becomes tightly attached to bone; beginning of gingiva.

What is the labial frenum?

A fold of connective tissue at the midline in upper and lower lips.

What is a diastema, related to the maxillary frenum?

A space between erupting central incisors caused by a firmly attached maxillary frenum pushing them slightly aside.

What are Fordyce granules?

Misplaced sebaceous glands in the mucosa of lips, cheeks, and retromolar pad area; appear as yellowish granular structures embedded in the mucosa.

What are exostoses?

Bony growths that may grow on the buccal cortical plate of the mandible and maxillae.

What are rugae?

Transverse ridges of epithelial and connective tissue in the anterior hard palate.

What is the incisive papilla?

A bulge of tissue posterior to central incisors at midline.

What does the incisive foramen carry?

Nasopalatine nerves and blood vessels.

What do the greater palatine foramina carry?

Nerves and blood vessels to the hard palate.

What does the lesser palatine foramen carry?

Nerves and blood vessels to soft palate

What is the torus palatinus?

Excess bone growth that can occur in the midline of the hard palate.

What is the primary landmark at the midline of the hard palate?

Posterior nasal spine of palatine bone.

What are fovea palatinae?

Two small depressions located on each side of the posterior nasal spine.

What is the uvula?

A downward projecting muscle at the most posterior portion of the soft palate at the midline.

Which muscle is responsible for soft palate movement?

Levator veli palatini muscle.

What forms the lateral borders of the soft palate?

Primarily teeth and associated mucosa; in the posterior lateral part, the boundary is the palatine tonsil and associated pillars.

What is the retromolar pad?

A small elevation of tissue posterior to the mandibular third molar.

What are fauces?

The space between the left and right tonsils and their pillars.

What are the structures of the tongue?

Filiform, fungiform, vallate, and rudimentary foliate papillae.

What is the lingual frenum or frenulum?

A fold of tissue extending from near the tip of the tongue down to the floor of the mouth.

What is the sublingual caruncle?

A small elevation on each side at the base of the lingual frenum, which is the opening for ducts of the submandibular and sublingual glands.

What is the sublingual fold?

A fold of tissue extending from the sublingual caruncle back along the floor of the mouth on either side.

What are mandibular tori?

Bony swellings on the lingual surface of the mandible at the canine area.

Which muscles support the floor of the mouth?

Paired mylohyoid muscles.