[Downloaded free from http://www.sjmms.net on Thursday, June 23, 2016, IP: 45.244.75.83] LETTER TO THE EDITOR Should Mylohyoid Muscle be of mylohyoid can be considered as normal opening. Considered a True Partition Hence it is not appropriate to say that the submandibular and sublingual fossae are separated from each other by Between the Sublingual and the mylohyoid. Submandibular Fossae? Srinivasa R. Sirasanagnadla, Satheesha B. Nayak Sir, Department of Anatomy, Melaka Manipal Medical College, Mylohyoid muscle is one of the suprahyoid muscles Manipal University, Madhavnagar, Manipal, Karnataka, India situated in the fl oor of the mouth. This triangular muscle Correspondence: Mr. Srinivasa Rao Sirasanagandla, arises from the mylohyoid line of the mandible. Major Department of Anatomy, Melaka Manipal Medical College part of the muscle meets the mylohyoid muscle of the (Manipal Campus), Manipal University, Madhavnagar, opposite side and forms a continuous muscular sheath. Manipal - 576 104, Karnataka, India. Posterior part of the muscle is inserted to the body of the E-mail: [email protected] hyoid bone. Classically, mylohyoid muscle is considered REFERENCES as a muscular partition between the sublingual and submandibular fossae. The sublingual fossa is situated 1. Standring S, Borley NR, Collins P, Crossman AR, Gatzoulis MA, above and medial to the mylohyoid muscle and it contains Healy JC, et al. Gray’s Anatomy: The Anatomical Basis of sublingual gland, deep part of the submandibular gland, Clinical Practice. 40th ed., Vol. 1198. London: Elsevier, Churchill Wharton’s duct, lingual nerve and lingual vessels. It Livingstone; 2008. p. 501. communicates with the submandibular fossa at the 2. Gaughran GR. Mylohyoid boutonni’ere and sublingual bouton. J Anat 1963;97:565-8. posterior border of the muscle.[1] Mylohyoid muscle 3. Nathan H, Luchansky E. Sublingual gland herniation through the is often shown to present defects. In previous studies mylohyoid muscle. Oral Surg Oral Med Oral Pathol 1985;59:21-3. incidence of defects in the mylohyoid muscles is found 4. Engel JD, Harn SD, Cohen DM. Mylohyoid herniation: Gross and to be 35-50%.[2-5] Standring et al.[1] have mentioned that histologic evaluation with clinical correlation. Oral Surg Oral Med hiatus in the mylohyoid is present in about one-third of Oral Pathol 1987;63:55-9. subjects. However, in one of the cadaveric studies, the 5. Windisch G, Weiglein AH, Kiesler K. Herniation of the mylohyoid incidence was 10%.[6] This is the lowest incidence of muscle. J Craniofac Surg 2004;15:566-9. mylohyoid defects that has been reported in the literature. 6. Castelli WA, Huelke DF, Celis A. Some basic anatomic features in paralingual space surgery. Oral Surg Oral Med Oral Pathol 1969;27:613-21. The defects in the mylohyoid are usually occupied by the 7. Otonari-Yamamoto M, Nakajima K, Tsuji Y, Otonari T, Curtin HD, sublingual gland, or fat and blood vessels. The defects Okano T, et al. Imaging of the mylohyoid muscle: Separation and their contents of the mylohyoid can be detected by of submandibular and sublingual spaces. AJR Am J Roentgenol computed tomography, magnetic resonance imaging and 2010;194:W431-8. ultrasound.[7] Mylohyoid muscle plays a key role during the oral imaging and while performing the surgical Access this article online procedures in the sublingual fossa or fl oor of the mouth. Quick Response Code: Though standard anatomy textbooks have described Website: mylohyoid muscle as oral diaphragm forming continuous www.sjmms.net sheath, it is not found in approximately half of the population. Further, the defects in the muscle may not DOI: impair its action in elevating the fl oor of the mouth and 10.4103/1658-631X.142583 depressing the mandible. Based on the above facts, defect 234 Saudi Journal of Medicine & Medical Sciences | Vol. 2 | Issue 3 | December 2014 | 234-234.