Lateral pterygoid muscle

Beginning: crista infratemporalis alae majoris and lamina lateralis processus pterygoidei ossis sphenoidalis ..

Attachment: fovea pterygoidea under the head of the mandible, capsule of the jaw joint.

Innervation: n. ptegygoideus lateralis (3rd branch of the trigeminal nerve).

Function: initiates mouth opening;

• bilateral action - forward thrust of the mandible;
• unilateral action – mandible pull to the opposite side

Links

References

• ČIHÁK, Radomír. Anatomie 1. 2. edition. Grada, 2001. 497 pp. ISBN 80-7169-970-5.