Human body
Skull
Anatomy · Axial skeleton
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Your skull feels like one solid helmet, so why is it really 22 bones?
The skull is a jigsaw of bones. Eight of them make a strong, curved box around your brain, and fourteen more build your face around your eyes, nose and mouth. They are stitched together by wiggly joints called sutures, which let a baby’s head grow, and only your lower jaw can move.
The adult skull is made of 22 bones: 8 cranial bones that enclose and protect the brain and 14 facial bones that frame the orbits, nasal cavity and mouth. Except for the mandible, they are locked together by fibrous sutures that allowed growth in childhood.
Key facts
- Bones
- 22 (8 cranial, 14 facial) + 6 ear ossicles + hyoid nearby
- Cranial capacity
- ≈ 1200–1600 cm³ in adults (mean ≈ 1350 cm³)
- Adult skull length
- ≈ 17–20 cm (glabella–opisthocranion)
- Vault bone thickness
- ≈ 5–7 mm (three layers: outer table, diploë, inner table)
- Teeth
- 32 permanent: 8 incisors, 4 canines, 8 premolars, 12 molars
- Max. mouth opening
- ≈ 40–55 mm between incisors
Parts you can explore (13)
- Frontal bone
- Parietal bones
- Temporal bones
- Occipital bone
- Sphenoid bone
- Ethmoid bone
- Maxillae
- Zygomatic bones
- Nasal bones
- Mandible
- Teeth
- Sutures
- Foramen magnum
In the 3D model
Rotate and take apart the model, follow a guided tour of what each part does and why it’s needed, change it with a live slider, and test yourself with a short quiz. Free, no sign-up.
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