Temporal styloid process

Styloid process (temporal)

Right side of the skull. Styloid process shown in red

Right temporal bone and mandible (styloid process labeled at bottom)
Details
Identifiers
Latin Processus styloideus ossis temporalis
Dorlands
/Elsevier
p_34/12667662
TA A02.1.06.047
FMA 52877

Anatomical terms of bone

The temporal styloid process is a pointed piece of bone that extends down from the temporal bone of the human skull, just below the ear.

Structure

The styloid process is a slender pointed piece of bone just below the ear. It projects down and forward from the inferior surface of the temporal bone, and serves as an anchor point for several muscles associated with the tongue and larynx.

The stylohyoid ligament extends from the apex of the process to the lesser cornu of the hyoid bone, and can sometimes be partially or completely ossified.

A small percentage of the population will suffer from an elongation of the styloid process and stylohyoid ligament calcification. This condition is also known as Eagle syndrome. The tissues in the throat rub on the styloid process during the act of swallowing with resulting pain along the glossopharyngeal nerve. There is also pain upon turning the head or extending the tongue. Other symptoms may include voice alteration, cough, dizziness, migraines, occipital neuralgia, pain in teeth and jaw and sinusitis or bloodshot eyes.

Development

The styloid process arises from endochondral ossification of the cartilage from the second pharyngeal arch.

Additional images

References

This article incorporates text in the public domain from the 20th edition of Gray's Anatomy (1918)

External links

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