Head and Neck Muscles

Week 7 – Muscular System (Laboratory Class)

• covers the frontal bone, allow you to raise the eyebrows and to wrinkle the forehead.

Frontalis

• covers the posterior aspect of the bone, it pulls the scalp posteriorly.

Occipitalis

• run in circles around the eyes. Close, open or wink eyes.

Orbicularis oculi

• circular muscle of the lips, also known as “kissing muscle”.

Orbicularis oris

• flattens the cheek. During chewing, it compresses the cheek to hold the food between the teeth.

Buccinator

• “smiling muscle” because it raises the corners of the mouth upward.

Zygomaticus

• covers the angle of the lower jaw

Masseter

• acts as a synergist of the masseter (elevates mandible) in closing the jaw.

Temporalis

• pull the corners of the mouth inferiorly, producing a downward sag of the mouth. “Sad clown face”

Platysma

• when both of these muscles contract together, it flexes the neck. “Prayer muscle”

Sternocleidomastoid