Digastric muscle side; anterior belly may be absent and posterior belly inserted into the middle of the jaw or hyoid bone. The tendon may pass in front, more rarely behind the Stylohoideus. The Mentohyoideus muscle passes from the body of hyoid bone to chin. The Digastricus divides the anterior triangle of the neck into three smaller triangles. The digastric muscle is involved in any complex jaw action such as speaking, swallowing, chewing and breathing. When the digastric muscle contracts, it acts to elevate the hyoid bone. If the hyoid is being held in place (by the infrahyoid muscles), it will tend to
Masseter muscle Masseter muscle In human anatomy, the masseter is one of the muscles of mastication. Found only in mammals, it is particularly powerful in herbivores to facilitate chewing of plant matter. The most obvious muscle of mastication is the masseter muscle, since it is the most superficial and one of the strongest. The masseter is a thick, somewhat quadrilateral muscle, consisting of two heads, superficial and deep. The fibers of the two heads are continuous at their insertion. The superficial head, the larger, arises by a thick, tendinous aponeurosis from the temporal process of zygomatic bone, and from the anterior two-thirds