the.com/maxilla
the bone that holds your smile, anchors your teeth, and quietly builds your face
means The maxilla is the upper jawbone, a paired bone that forms the central part of the face, holding the upper teeth and shaping the roof of the mouth, the floor of the eye sockets, and the sides of the nose.
from Straight from Latin maxilla, meaning "jawbone" or "jaw," possibly a diminutive of mala ("cheek, jaw"). Anatomists kept the Latin word intact, so when you say "maxilla" you're using almost exactly the term a Roman would have reached for. Its smaller sibling in the mouth is the mandible, the lower jaw — and in insects, anatomists borrowed the same word for the second pair of mouthparts, so a butterfly technically has maxillae too.
- fused pair
- Two bones meet at birth into one upper jaw
- sinus tenant
- Houses the largest air-filled cavity in your skull
- holds teeth
- Anchors all your upper teeth in bony sockets
- face frame
- Forms part of eye sockets, nose, and palate
- snake flex
- Snakes swing theirs to walk prey down throat
human maxilla — upper jaw bone in humans, consisting of two fused bones forming the upper teeth-bearing structure
great white shark maxilla — upper jaw bones that can be up to 7 inches long and contain replaceable razor-sharp teeth
insect maxilla — paired appendages below mandibles in insects like grasshoppers and beetles used for manipulating food