Skull (Cranium)
Educational content only — not medical advice.
Anatomy
The bony vault that protects the brain and forms the facial skeleton — 22 bones joined by sutures, except the movable mandible. This model merges the frontal, parietal, temporal, occipital, sphenoid, maxillary and zygomatic bones into one mesh.
Clinical notes
In infants the sutures remain open as fontanelles allowing brain growth, and any skull fracture warrants evaluation for brain injury, not just the bone.
Related structures
Educational references
FAQ
What is the role of the Skull?
The bony vault that protects the brain and forms the facial skeleton — 22 bones joined by sutures, except the movable mandible. This model merges the frontal, parietal, temporal, occipital, sphenoid, maxillary and zygomatic bones into one mesh.
Why is the Skull clinically important?
In infants the sutures remain open as fontanelles allowing brain growth, and any skull fracture warrants evaluation for brain injury, not just the bone.
Source & license
Derived from Z-Anatomy (Gauthier Kervyn et al.), CC BY-SA 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/); upstream geometry from BodyParts3D, © The Database Center for Life Science. license details