gnatho-, gnath-, -gnatha, -gnathan, -gnath, -gnathia, -gnathic, -gnathous

(Greek: jaw)


The jaw is the name applied to the bones which contain the teeth.

The two upper jaw-bones, the maxillae, are firmly attached to the other bones of the face.

The lower jaw, the mandible, is shaped in a form similar to that of a horseshoe, and, after the first year of life, it consists of a single bone.

It forms a hinge-joint with the squamous part (thin, plate-like section) of the temporal bone, immediately in front of the ear.

Both the upper and the lower jaw-bones include deep sockets known as alveoli, which contain the roots of the teeth.

—Compiled from information located in
Black's Medical Dictionary, 41st edition;
Edited by Dr. Harvey Marcovitch; The Scarecrow Press, Inc.;
Lanham, Maryland and Oxford, England; 2005; page 385.
Gnathosaurus
A “jaw lizard” from Late Jurassic Europe. Named by naturalist Christian Erich Hermann von Meyer in 1833.
gnathoschisis
1. Cleft (fissure or groove) of the jaw.
2. A congenital cleft of the upper jaw.
gnathosoma
1. The anterior part of the body of mites and ticks which bears the mouth and mouth parts.
2. That division of the acarine (mite or tick) body which has a mouth opening and mouth parts.
gnathostatics
1. In orthodontic diagnosis, a technical procedure for orienting the dentition (teeth in the dental arch) to certain cranial landmarks.
2. A technique of orthodontic diagnosis based on an analysis of the relationships between the teeth and certain reference points on the skull.
gnathostomatous
Having a mouth which has jaws.
gnathostomiasis
A migrating edema, or creeping eruption, caused by cutaneous infection by larvae of Gnathostoma spinigerum.
gnathotheca
The horney covering of the lower mandible or beak of a bird.
hemignathous
1. The defective development of the mandibular (relating to the lower jaw) region on one side.
2. A developmental anomaly characterized by a partial or a complete lack of the lower jaw on one side.
heterognathous
Having differently shaped jaws.
holognathous
The whole or entire jaw.
hyperorthognathous
Having a face that is flat in profile with a facial angle of 93° or more.
hypognathous
1. Having the lower jaw or mandible longer than or which protrudes beyond the upper jaw.
2. Having a congenitally defectively developed lower jaw or a protruding lower jaw.
isognathous
Having the molar teeth alike (the same) in both jaws.
laterognathism
An asymmetric mandible (lower jaw) resulting from irregular growth and development, fractures, tumors, or soft tissue atrophy or hypertrophy.
macrognathia, macrognathic
An abnormally large jaw.

This condition is associated with pituitary gigantism, tumors, and other disorders.

Macrognathia can often be corrected with surgery. Also called prognathic mandible.