The Oral Cavity and Palate

The oral cavity or mouth is the space bounded anteriorly by the lips, laterally by the cheeks and superiorly by the palate. The floor is muscular with the tongue lying posteriorly and the two mylohyoid muscles joined in the midline anteriorly. The mouth opens posteriorly into the oropharynx through the isthmus of the fauces {fauces — throat, Latin) which is bounded laterally by the palatoglossal folds. The space between the cheeks externally and the teeth and alveolar processes of the maxilla and mandible internally, is called the vestibule of the mouth. When the teeth are together the vestibule communicates behind the last molar teeth with the oral cavity proper, the part of the mouth within the alveolar processes.