Foramina of the Skull

• Frontal bone 

  • Supraorbital notch 

• Mandibular bone 

  • Mental foramen

  • Mandibular foramen 

• Maxilla bone 

  • Infraorbital foramen

  • Incisive fossa 

  • Greater and lesser palatine foramina

• Ethmoid bone 

  • Foramina of the cribiform plate 

• Sphenoid bone 

  • Lesser wing 

    • Optic canal 

    • Superior orbital fissure 

  • Greater wing 

    • Foramen rotundum 

    • Foramen ovale 

    • Foramen spinosum 

Note: The foramina of the cribiform plate are the small holes on either side of the crista galli. The foramen lacerum sits between the sphenoid, occipital and temporal bones. In life, this “foramen” is covered by connective tissue so it is not actually a foramen. The only way it becomes a foramen is when the skull is prepared and that tissue is cleaned away.

• Temporal bone

  • Carotid canal 

    • The carotid canal winds its way through the temporal bone. Be sure to find the internal and external openings. 

  • Internal acoustic meatus 

  • External acoustic meatus 

    • The external acoustic meatus is what we would consider in life to be the ‘ear hole.’

  • Stylomastoid foramen  

    • The stylomastoid foramen is easy to remember as it sits between the styloid and mastoid processes of the temporal bone. 

• Jugular foramen

  • A space between the temporal and occipital bones; the external exit is called the jugular fossa 

• Occipital bone 

  • Hypoglossal canal 

  • Foramen magnum