Buccinator muscle the cheek area, which aids in holding the cheek to the teeth during chewing. This action causes the muscle to keep food pushed back on the occlusal surface of the posterior teeth, as when a person chews. By keeping the food in the correct position when chewing, the buccinator assists the muscles of mastication. It aids whistling and smiling, and in neonates it is used to suckle. In the past the buccinator muscle was also written as bucinator muscle. A "bucinator" in classical Latin is a trumpeter, or more precisely, the person who blows the "bucina". The name "bucina" could
In vitro muscle testing the level which ensures maximal motor unit recruitment. The servomotor can be programmed to maintain a given force while allowing the muscle to change length, vice versa, or the muscle may be subject to more complex testing, such as in work loops. When pennate muscles are used, sonomicrometry is often used to accurately determine fiber length during the test. "In vitro" muscle testing can be done on any scale of muscle organization - entire groups of muscles (provided they share a common insertion or origin, as in the human quadriceps), a single muscle, a "bundle" of muscle fibers, a single