Joints of skull

The joints of the skull are composed of different types of joints:

• Cranial fibrous joints:

  • Cranial syndesmoses

  • Cranial sutures: Cranial sutures are fibrous joints that connect the bones of the calvarial vault and facial skeleton. Major sutures include the metopic suture (between the frontal bones), sagittal suture (between the parietal bones), coronal sutures (between frontal and parietal bones), lambdoid sutures (between parietal and occipital bones), and squamosal sutures (between parietal and temporal bones). These sutures allow for skull growth during development and remain patent until adolescence, after which they typically ossify and fuse

  • Dentoalveolar syndesmosis

• Cranial cartilaginous joints represented by the cranial synchondroses that are cartilaginous joints found mainly at the skull base, such as the spheno-occipital, intrasphenoidal, and prespheno-septal synchondroses. These joints serve as growth centers during early development and ossify with age.

• Cranial synovial joints including the temporomandibular joint and atlantooccipital joint