ethmoid bone
(noun)
An unpaired bone in the skull
that separates the nasal cavity from the brain.
Examples of ethmoid bone in the following topics:
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Nose and Paranasal Sinuses
- The shape of the nose is determined by the ethmoid bone and the nasal septum.
- The shape of the nose is determined by the ethmoid bone and the nasal septum.
- The ethmoid bone is the bone that separates the nose from the brain, and supports the shape and structure of the nasal and orbital cavities.
- On average, the nose of a male is larger than that of a female, due to differences in facial bone structure between genders.
- These are named according to the bones within which the sinuses lie: surrounding the nasal cavity (maxillary sinuses), above the eyes (frontal sinuses), between the eyes (ethmoid sinuses), and behind the ethmoid bone (sphenoid sinuses).
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Cranial Bones
- The neurocranium is comprised of eight bones: occipital, two temporal bones, two parietal bones, sphenoid, ethmoid, and the frontal bone.
- The neurocranium consists of the occipital bone, two temporal bones, two parietal bones, the sphenoid, ethmoid, and frontal bones—all are joined together with sutures.
- The body that forms the middle of the sphenoid bone articulates with the ethmoid and occipital bone and forms a key part of the nasal cavity; it also contains the sphenoidal sinuses.
- The ethmoid bone is a small bone in the skull that separates the nasal cavity from the brain.
- The ethmoid bone forms the medial wall of the orbit, the roof of the nasal cavity, and due to its central location it articulates with numerous bones of the viscerocranium.
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Facial Bones
- The hyoid bone, ethmoid bone, and sphenoid bones are sometimes included in the viscerocranium.
- The two lacrimal bones form the medial wall of the orbit and articulate with the frontal, ethmoid, maxilla, and inferior nasal conchae.
- The lacrimal bones are the two smallest bones located in the face.
- The two slender nasal bones located in the midline of the face fuse to form the bridge of the noise and also articulate with the frontal, ethmoid and maxilla bones.
- There are fourteen facial bones.
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Foramina
- The skull bones that contain foramina include the frontal, ethmoid, sphenoid, maxilla, palatine, temporal, and occipital lobes.
- Supraorbital foramen: Located in the frontal bone, it allows passage of the supraorbital vein, artery, and nerve into the orbit.
- Foramen magnum: Located in the occipital bone, it allows the passage of the spinal and vertebral arteries and the spinal cord to pass from the skull into the vertebral column.
- Foramina of cribriform plate: Located in the ethmoid bone, it allows the passage of the olfactory nerve.
- Foramen rotundum: Located in the sphenoid bone, it allows passage of the maxillary nerve.
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Paranasal Sinuses
- The paranasal sinuses (four, paired, air-filled spaces) surround the nasal cavity, and are located above and between the eyes, and behind the ethmoids.
- The sinuses are named for the facial bones that they are located behind.
- The frontal sinuses are superior to the orbits and are in the frontal bone.
- The ethmoid sinuses are formed from several discrete air cells within the ethmoid bone between the nose and the orbits.
- Decreasing the relative weight of the front of the skull, and especially the bones of the face.
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Orbits
- The orbital cavity is formed from seven bones.
- The frontal bone forms the superior border of the orbital rim and also the superior wall (roof) of the orbital surface.
- The lacrimal and ethmoid bones contribute to the medial wall of the orbit and also to the medial wall of the orbital canal.
- The small palatine bone contributes to the floor of the orbit.
- Finally, the sphenoid bone forms the posterior wall of the orbit and also contributes to the formation of the optic canal.
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Olfactory (I) Nerve
- The olfactory nerves consist of a collection of many sensory nerve fibers that extend from the olfactory epithelium to the olfactory bulb, passing through the many openings of the cribriform plate of the ethmoid bone.
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General Features and Functions of the Skull
- The skull is formed of several bones which, with the exception of the mandible, are joined together by sutures—synarthrodial (immovable) joints.
- The adult human skull is comprised of twenty-two bones which are divided into two parts of differing embryological origin: the neurocranium and the viscerocranium.
- The neurocranium is formed from the occipital bone, two temporal bones, two parietal bones, the sphenoid, ethmoid and frontal bones; they are all joined together with sutures.
- The facial skeleton contains the vomer, two nasal conchae, two nasal bones, two maxilla, the mandible, two palatine bones, two zygomatic bones, and two lacrimal bones.
- Neurocranium consists of 8 parts: frontal, sphenoid, ethmoid, occipital, 2 temporal, and 2 parietal bones.
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Gross Anatomy
- All the bones in the body can be described as long bones or flat bones.
- Bone is made of bone tissue, a type of dense connective tissue.
- Cortical bone is compact bone, while cancellous bone is trabecular and spongy bone.
- The outer shell of the long bone is compact bone, below which lies a deeper layer of cancellous bone (spongy bone), as shown in the following figure.
- These are flat bone, sutural bone, short bone, irregular, sesamoid bone, and long bone.
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Bone Grafting
- Bone grafting is a surgical procedure that replaces missing bone in order to repair bone fractures.
- Bone grafting is a surgical procedure that replaces missing bone in order to repair bone fractures that are extremely complex, pose a significant health risk to the patient, or fail to heal properly .
- Bone grafts may be autologous (bone harvested from the patient's own body, often from the iliac crest), allograft (cadaveric bone usually obtained from a bone bank), or synthetic (often made of hydroxyapatite or other naturally-occurring and biocompatible substances) with similar mechanical properties to bone.
- Most bone grafts are expected to be reabsorbed and replaced as the natural bone heals over a few months' time.
- Bone grafting is also used to fuse joints to prevent movement, repair broken bones that have bone loss, and repair broken bone that has not yet healed.