Bones of the skull

The parietal bones are two bones in the human skull which, when joined together, form the sides and roof of the cranium. Each bone is roughly quadrilateral in form, and has two surfaces, four borders, and four angles. It is named from the Latin paries (-ietis), wall.

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.

The lacrimal bone is the smallest and most fragile bone of the face; roughly the size of the little fingernail. It is situated at the front part of the medial wall of the orbit. It has two surfaces and four borders. Several bony landmarks of the lacrimal bone function in the process of lacrimation or crying. Specifically, the lacrimal bone helps form the nasolacrimal canal necessary for tear translocation. A depression on the anterior inferior portion of the bone, the lacrimal fossa, houses the membranous lacrimal sac. Tears or lacrimal fluid, from the lacrimal glands, collect in this sac during excessive lacrimation. The fluid then flows through the nasolacrimal duct and into the nasopharynx. This drainage results in what is commonly referred to a runny nose during excessive crying or tear production. Injury or fracture of the lacrimal bone can result in posttraumatic obstruction of the lacrimal pathways.

The frontal bone is a bone in the human skull. The bone consists of three portions. These are the squamous part, the orbital part, and the nasal part, making up the bony part of the forehead, part of the bony orbital cavity holding the eye, and part of the bony part of the nose respectively. The name comes from the Latin word frons (meaning "forehead").

The temporal bones are situated at the sides and base of the skull, and lateral to the temporal lobes of the cerebral cortex.

The maxillae are the two maxilla bones forming the upper jaw and palate of the mouth. The two halves are fused at the intermaxillary suture to form the upper jaw. This is similar to the mandible (lower jaw), which is also a fusion of two halves at the mandibular symphysis.

In the human skull, the zygomatic bone (cheekbone, malar bone) is a paired bone which articulates with the maxilla, the temporal bone, the sphenoid bone and the frontal bone. It is situated at the upper and lateral part of the face and forms the prominence of the cheek, part of the lateral wall and floor of the orbit, and parts of the temporal and infratemporal fossa. It presents a malar and a temporal surface; four processes, the frontosphenoidal, orbital, maxillary, and temporal; and four borders.

The mandible lower jaw, or jawbone (from Latin mandibula, "jawbone") in the human, is the largest, strongest and lowest bone in the face. It forms the lower jaw and holds the lower teeth in place. In the midline on the anterior surface of the mandible is a faint ridge, an indication of the mandibular symphysis, where the bone is formed by the fusion of right and left processes during mandibular development. Like other symphyses in the body, this is a midline articulation where the bones are joined by fibrocartilage, but this articulation fuses together in early childhood.

The palatine bone is an irregular bone of the facial skeleton in many animal species. It is commonly termed, with the maxilla, the hard palate. (Palate is derived from Latin palatum which is unrelated to palatium 'palace', from which other senses of palatine derive).

The vomer is one of the unpaired facial bones of the skull. It is located in the midsagittal line, and articulates with the sphenoid, the ethmoid, the left and right palatine bones, and the left and right maxillary bones. The vomer forms the inferior part of the nasal septum, with the superior part formed by the perpendicular plate of the ethmoid bone. The name is derived from the Latin word for a ploughshare and the shape of the bone.

The ethmoid bone is an unpaired bone in the skull that separates the nasal cavity from the brain. It is located at the roof of the nose, between the two orbits. The cubical bone is lightweight due to a spongy construction. The ethmoid bone is one of the bones that make up the orbit of the eye.

The occipital bone, a saucer-shaped membrane bone situated at the back and lower part of the skull, is trapezoidal in shape and curved on itself. It is pierced by a large oval opening, the foramen magnum, through which the cranial cavity communicates with the vertebral canal.