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Original Article
Anat Cell Biol 2023; 56(3): 308-312
Published online September 30, 2023
https://doi.org/10.5115/acb.23.022
Copyright © Korean Association of ANATOMISTS.
The notch of the mandible: what do different fields call it?
Norio Kitagawa1 
, Keiko Fukino1 , Yuki Matsushita2 , Soichiro Ibaragi3 , R. Shane Tubbs4,5,6,7,8,9,10 , Joe Iwanaga1,4,5
1Department of Oral and Maxillofacial Anatomy, Graduate School of Medical and Dental Sciences, Tokyo Medical and Dental University, Tokyo, 2Department of Cell Biology, Nagasaki University Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences, Nagasaki, 3Department of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery, Faculty of Medicine, Dentistry and Pharmaceutical Sciences, Okayama University, Okayama, Japan, 4Department of Neurosurgery, Tulane Center for Clinical Neurosciences, Tulane University School of Medicine, New Orleans, LA, 5Department of Neurology, Tulane Center for Clinical Neurosciences, Tulane University School of Medicine, New Orleans, LA, USA, 6Department of Anatomical Sciences, St. George’s University, St. George’s, Grenada, West Indies, 7Department of Structural & Cellular Biology, Tulane University School of Medicine, New Orleans, LA, 8Department of Neurosurgery and Ochsner Neuroscience Institute, Ochsner Health System, New Orleans, LA, 9Department of Surgery, Tulane University School of Medicine, New Orleans, LA, USA, 10Dental and Oral Medical Center, Kurume University School of Medicine, Fukuoka, Japan
Correspondence to:Joe Iwanaga
Department of Neurosurgery, Tulane Center for Clinical Neurosciences, Tulane University School of Medicine, New Orleans, LA 70112, USA
E-mail: iwanagajoeca@gmail.com
This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/) which permits unrestricted non-commercial use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
The bony notch on the inferior border of the mandible, anterior to the attachment of the masseter muscle, where the facial vessels commonly pass, has been called different names in the literature, e.g., premasseteric notch, antegonial notch, and notch for the facial vessels. Interestingly, various disciplines have leaned toward different names for this notch. Therefore, to aid in consistent communication among professionals, the present study aimed to analyze usage of these varied terms and make recommendations for the best terminology. Based on the adjacent anatomical structures used to name this notch, three groups were analyzed in this study, a group using masseter in the term, a group using gonion in the term, and a group using facial vessels in the term. A literature search found that the group using gonion in the term was found most in the literature. The orthodontics field used gonion in the term the most (29.0%: 31/107) followed by the oral and maxillofacial surgery field (14.0%: 15/107), the plastic surgery field (4.7%: 5/107), and the anatomy field (3.7%: 4/107). The dental field used gonion in this term the most (43.9%: 47/107) and the medical field used facial vessels in the term the most (33.3%: 6/18). Based on these results, the use of gonial terms for this notch seems to be preferred.
Keywords: Terminology, Facial artery, Mandible, Gonion, Masseter
