Suture (joint)

This article is about joints in the bones of the cranium. For stitches holding tissues together, see Surgical suture. For natural structures of a wide range of animals, see Suture (anatomical). For other uses, see Suture (disambiguation).
Suture (joint)

Side view of the skull.

Human skull side suturas right
Details
Identifiers
Latin Sutura
Dorlands
/Elsevier
12773924
TA A03.1.02.001
FMA 7493

Anatomical terminology

A suture is a type of fibrous joint which only occurs in the skull (or "cranium"). The bones are bound together by Sharpey's fibres. A tiny amount of movement is permitted at sutures, which contributes to the compliance and elasticity of the skull. These joints are synarthroses.[1] It is normal for many of the bones of the skull to remain unfused at birth. The fusion of the skull's bones at birth is known as craniosynostosis. The term "fontanelle" is used to describe the resulting "soft spots". The relative positions of the bones continue to change during the life of the adult (though less rapidly), which can provide useful information in forensics and archaeology. In old age, cranial sutures may ossify (turn to bone) completely.[2] The joints between the teeth and the joint between the mandible and the cranium, the temporomandibular joint, form the only non-sutured joints in the skull.

List of sutures

Fig. 1 Cranial sutures viewed from top of head

Most sutures are named for the bones they articulate, but some have special names of their own.

Primarily visible from the side (norma lateralis)

Primarily visible from front (norma frontalis) or above (norma verticalis)

Primarily visible from below (norma basalis) or inside

Gallery

References

  1. "Module - Introduction to Joints". Archived from the original on 2007-12-17. Retrieved 2008-01-29.
  2. Harth, Sebastian; Obert, Martin; Ramsthaler, Frank; Reuss, Christina; Traupe, Horst; Verhoff, Marcel (2009). "Estimating age by assessing the ossification degree of cranial sutures with the aid of Flat-Panel-CT". Legal Medicine (Tokyo) (Elsevier) 11 (Supp.1): S186–S189. doi:10.1016/j.legalmed.2009.01.091. PMID 19261532. Retrieved 5 February 2016.

External links

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