• 13 parts
  • Checked September 2026

Labeling the Mandible

The lower jaw bone from outside and inside, with thirteen parts to find.

Labeling the Mandible

Name Date

Tap the mental foramen

1 of 10

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13
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Write the name of each numbered part.Answer key

  1. Body
  2. Ramus
  3. Angle
  4. Coronoid process
  5. Condylar process
  6. Condyle
  7. Mandibular notch
  8. Alveolar process
  9. Mental protuberance
  10. Mental foramen
  11. Mandibular foramen
  12. Lingula
  13. Mylohyoid line

Drawn for this site on 2026-10-04 as outlines in code. Licence: own work.

Each numbered ring is a button. Use the arrow keys to move between them and Enter to choose. Names are read out in Study, and once a part is answered.

Next step Next: the whole skull, 36 parts

All 13 parts on the diagram

Show the list

Outside view 10

  1. Body Each side has a horizontal body in front and a ramus behind.
  2. Ramus Ramus means branch; it rises from the back of the body.
  3. Angle The corner of the jaw, below and in front of the ear.
  4. Coronoid process A chewing muscle, the temporalis, attaches here.
  5. Condylar process It carries the condyle and forms the jaw joint.
  6. Condyle It fits into the temporal bone at the temporomandibular joint.
  7. Mandibular notch The dip between the coronoid process and the condylar process.
  8. Alveolar process The sockets of the lower teeth are in this rim.
  9. Mental protuberance Mental here means of the chin, from the Latin mentum.
  10. Mental foramen A nerve to the chin and lower lip leaves the bone here.

Inside view 3

  1. Mandibular foramen The nerve and vessels to the lower teeth enter here.
  2. Lingula Lingula means little tongue; a ligament attaches to it.
  3. Mylohyoid line The muscle that forms the floor of the mouth attaches along it.

How this list was compiled: Every name and detail checked on 2026-09-29 against OpenStax Anatomy and Physiology 2e, section 7.2 The Skull (the mandible: body, ramus, angle, coronoid process, condylar process and condyle, mandibular notch, alveolar process, mental protuberance, mental foramen, mylohyoid line, mandibular foramen, lingula), https://openstax.org/books/anatomy-and-physiology-2e/pages/7-2-the-skull, and against Wikipedia, Mandible, text only. Licence: own work

The drawing: Drawn for this site on 2026-10-04 as outlines in code. One outline serves both views, the inside view being its mirror image: it follows Gray's Anatomy of the Human Body, 20th edition (1918), figure 176 (Mandible, outer surface, side view), drawn by Henry Vandyke Carter, public domain (Wikimedia Commons, file Gray176.png), with the notch a little shallower and the neck a little narrower. The inner markings are placed after figure 177 of the same book (Mandible, inner surface, side view; Gray177.png, public domain); the teeth are our own. Licence: own work

How it works

The outside view is the right half of the mandible, chin to the right. The inside view is the same half, with the mandibular foramen, the lingula and the mylohyoid line.

Read the full guide

Outside first, then inside

Ten parts are on the outside: the body and ramus, the angle between them, the two projections at the top with the notch between, the condyle, the rim that holds the teeth, the chin and the small mental foramen. Three are on the inside: the mandibular foramen, the lingula beside it and the mylohyoid line.

  • Coronoid is in front and condylar is behind: the condyle is the one that meets the skull at the jaw joint.

Questions and answers

What are the parts of the mandible?

A horizontal body that holds the teeth and an upright ramus behind it, meeting at the angle. The ramus ends in the coronoid process in front and the condylar process behind, with the mandibular notch between them.

What is the difference between the mental foramen and the mandibular foramen?

The mental foramen is on the outside of the body, below the premolars, where a nerve to the chin comes out. The mandibular foramen is on the inside of the ramus, where the nerve to the lower teeth goes in.

Which part of the mandible forms the jaw joint?

The condyle, the oval head on top of the condylar process. It fits against the temporal bone to form the temporomandibular joint.

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