Question

What is Pterygoid?

Answer 1

Pterygoid:

1. The pterygoid is a pair of bones that sit beneath the palatine bones on the palate of many animals.
2. It's a narrow, flat lamina that connects the perpendicular lamina of the palatine bone to the medial side of the pterygoid process of the sphenoid bone.
3. Pterygoid processes, also called pterygoid plates, are sphenoid bone projections that are posteroinferiorly paired.
4. Each pterygoid process divides into a medial pterygoid plate and a lateral pterygoid plate as it grows inferiorly from the junction of the body and the larger wing of the sphenoid bone.
5. A little hook-shaped feature near the inferior tip of the medial pterygoid plate is known as the pterygoid hamulus.
6. The pterygoid muscles are positioned in the infratemporal fossa of the skull and comprise two of the four mastication muscles.