mandibular

Pertaining to the lower jaw.

Pertaining to the lower jaw.

Emanating from or pertaining to the mandible.

• m. arch cartilage — an early skeletal element in the embryonic viscerocranium, the cartilage eventually becomes the mandible.
• m. duct — the duct of the mandibular salivary gland.
• m. enlargement — causes a characteristic lateral silhouette in animals similar to that of bottle jaw. It is a common sign in osteodystrophia fibrosa in horses and pigs, craniomandibular osteopathy in dogs, and lymphoma and actinomycosis of cattle.
• m. gland — a salivary gland situated behind the angle of the jaw, sometimes partly covered by the parotid salivary gland and the mandible.
• m. lymph node — one of a cluster of nodes grouped around the facial vein at the angle of the jaw.
• m. nerve block — an anesthetic agent is injected around the mandibular alveolar nerve where it enters the mandibular foramen. Usually used in large animals for dental procedures on the lower jaw.
• m. neurapraxia — bilateral trigeminal motor paralysis causing a dropped jaw that cannot be voluntarily closed. Seen in dogs as a result of trauma or as an idiopathic neuritis. Recovery is usual, but occasionally the condition persists with atrophy of the temporal, masseter, pterygoid, rostral digastricus and mylohyoid muscles.
• m. osteodystrophy — one of the regions of the body where a generalized osteodystrophy is most readily observable. The ventral edge of each ramus is thickened and the intermandibular space reduced.
• m. prognathism — an abnormal protrusion of the mandible so that there is difficulty in prehending and masticating food, especially in animals at pasture. The defect is inherited in some breeds of cattle and also occurs as part of a more general range of defects, e.g. in achondroplastic dwarf cattle. Called also undershot. See also malocclusion.