The 14 Facial Bones

What are the Facial Bones?

Did you know that the face is made up of multiple bones and not just one large bone? Matter of fact, the face consists of 14 facial bones (6 paired and 2 unpaired). The 14 bones are: two zygoma/zygomatic bones, two lacrimal bones, two inferior nasal conchae bones, two palatine bones, two maxilla bones, two nasal bones, one vomer bone, and one mandible bone (Kelley & Petersen, 2013, p. 49). The irregular sizes and shapes of these facial bones are fused together and articulates with joints that form different cavities, sinuses, and structures of the face. The facial bones serve as structural framework for the face, protect and provide support for vital organs and vessels of the face and skull, and aid in the movements and motion of the face and mouth (Facial Bones – List of Names, Anatomy, & Labeled Diagram, 2022).

 Now let's learn more about these facial bones:

• Maxilla (or maxillary) (2/paired): the largest, immovable facial bones that forms the upper jaw and hard palate, and contains the maxillary sinuses and sockets for the upper teeth (Facial Bones – List of Names, Anatomy, & Labeled Diagram, 2022)
• Nasal (2/paired): located at the bridge of the nose and gives the nose its shape (Facial Bones – List of Names, Anatomy, & Labeled Diagram, 2022)
• Palatine (2/paired): L-shaped bones behind the nasal cavity, and forms the hard palate (Facial Bones – List of Names, Anatomy, & Labeled Diagram, 2022)
• Inferior Nasal Conchae (2/paired): located within the nasal cavity, and forms the sides and lower wall of the nasal cavity (Facial Bones – List of Names, Anatomy, & Labeled Diagram, 2022)
• Lacrimal (2/paired): located in the inner corner (medial side) of the orbits, and aids in a drainage route for tears (Kelley & Petersen, 2013, p. 50)
• Zygomatic (or zygoma) (2/paired): located at the cheek, under the eye socket, and makes up the cheekbone (Facial Bones – List of Names, Anatomy, & Labeled Diagram, 2022)
• Mandible (1/unpaired): the largest and strongest bone that forms the lower jaw and sockets for the lower teeth; and is the only movable facial bone (Facial Bones – List of Names, Anatomy, & Labeled Diagram, 2022)
• Vomer (1/unpaired): a small bone located in the nasal cavity and forms the lower portion of the nasal septum (Facial Bones – List of Names, Anatomy, & Labeled Diagram, 2022)

 

How to Identify the 14 Facial Bones on an Image

Memorizing the facial bones can be challenging to some, however, I came up with a way to remember these bones. Here is a mnemonic sentence to help remember all 14 of the facial bones (not counting the second paired bones). Below is a color coordinated diagram of the facial bones.

Mary - Maxilla

Never - Nasal bone

Liked - Lacrimal

Pickled - Palatine

Zucchini - Zygoma/Zygomatic

Inside - Inferior nasal conchae

Vegan - Vomer

Macaroni - Mandible

*Remember that the last two words/bones are the unpaired bones* 

 

Diagram on the facial bones in color, except the palatine bone (Facial Bones – List of Names, Anatomy, & Labeled Diagram, 2022)

Now let's say mnemonic isn't your thing and you need another way to identify these bones. Well, that’s easy. Some of the names of these bones give away their location. Here are some tips on how to remember the location of these bones.

Lacrimal: the medical term for cry is “lacrimation,” so affiliate the lacrimal bone to crying

Palatine: think of the term hard “palate”

Zygoma/zygomatic: another name for the “cheekbone” is the zygomatic bone

Nasal bone: think of the medical term for “nose” as nasal

Mandible: another term for mandible is the “jawbone,” so correlate the two terms together

Inferior nasal conchae: think of this bone as being “inside the nasal” to remember the location

Maxilla: when you say the last syllable of the word, “-la,” think of your tongue touching the roof of your mouth, indicating that this bone is above the mandible

Vomer: when I hear “vomer,” I think of “Voldemort” from Harry Potter, where he does not have the bottom portion of his nose.

Now that you got that down, how can we identify the facial bones in different planes? Well, let’s take a look. The facial bones will look different in all three planes: sagittal, coronal, and axial. Good thing, you only have to remember 8 bones, since 6 of the bones are paired, meaning it is the same on both sides of the face. More importantly, remember that although the shape and sizes of these bones may change according to the plane, the location of these bones will not. For example, identifying the smaller bones like the vomer, lacrimal bone, and the inferior nasal conchae can be tricky in all three planes. But if you use the larger bones, like the maxilla and zygomatic, or other familiar structures, as a guide, you will be able to identify smaller and more difficult bones.

However, on sagittal plane, looking from one lateral side to the other, the facial bones that are more posterior, like the inferior nasal conchae, may be harder to detect due to the blocking view from larger bones. And bones may appear smaller on the axial plane.

 

CT of an axial (left) and coronal (right) view of some of the facial bones (Kelley & Petersen, 2013, pgs. 52-54)

Note that some of facial bones may be altered due to illness, injury, and reconstruction.

I hope this blog on how to identify the 14 facial bones help you memorize the location of these bones in different planes.

References

Kelley, L. L., & Petersen, C. (2013). Sectional Anatomy for Imaging Professionals -E-Book. Elsevier Health Sciences.

Facial Bones – List of names, anatomy, & labeled diagram. (2022, September 9). TheSkeletalSystem.net. https://www.theskeletalsystem.net/facial-bones#:~:text=Here%20is%20a%20basic%20outline%20for%20the%20bones,giving%20shape%20to%20the%20nose.%20. . .%20More%20items