The facial skeleton that encloses the mouth and nose, and helps to form, with the cerebral cranium, the orbit that encloses the eyes.

It includes the movable mandible (lower jawbone hinged to open the mouth) and the hyoid bone that supports the tongue and is suspended from the base of the skull.

The portion of the skull which forms the face and the jaws: The plastic surgeon carefully reconstructed the visceral cranium of the patient who had been severely injured in a car accident.