"TMJ" denotes Temporomandibular Joint, or the jaw joint. People have two TMJs which are in front of each ear and connecting the lower jaw bone (the mandible) to the skull. The joints can move up and down, side to side, and forward and back. If the joints have diseases and disorders, people will have trouble in biting, chewing and swallowing food, speaking and making facial expressions.
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On the lateral side of the skull, the mandible is secured to the zygomatic process with the temporomandibular ligament. Such ligaments act to form a capsule, in which the articular disc resides. The articular disc cushions the motion between the mandibular condyle and mandibular fossa of the skull.
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From the medial side of the skull, the mandible is held by the sphenomandibular ligament, the stylomandibular ligament, and the capsular ligament. The styloid process (a bony extension) acts as an attachment site for the stylomandibular ligament.
Anatomy courtesy of "Gray's Anatomy of the Human Body," Philadelphia: Lea & Febiger, 1918.
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