Throat Bone | Bones of the Throat
The throat consists of one bone. The primary functions of the throat are the housing of the larynx, pharynx, and esophagus. The throat plays an important role in structure, protection, and the passage of food and air.
Below are detailed diagrams of the anatomy of the throat bone and information regarding the throat bone.
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List of all Throat Bones
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Hyoid Bone
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The hyoid bone is the one and only bone of the throat. This horseshoe-shaped bone lies in between the chin and the thyroid ligament. Interestingly, the hyoid bone does not connect to any other bones and is the only bone in the human body to do so. Instead the bone connects solely to ligaments.
The primary function of the hyoid bone is to allow the movement of the tounge, pharynx, and larynx by connecting to muscles in the region. Also the bone functions in the protection of these structures. The hyoid bone is broken into three segments: the body, greater cornu, and lesser cornu. These segments can be seen in the image to the side.
On the superior side of the bone, the hyoid bone connects to the middle pharyngeal constrictor muscle, hyoglossus muscle, digastric muscle, stylohyoid muscle, geniohyoid muscle, and mylohyoid muscle. On the anterior side of the bone, the hyoid bone connects to the thyrohyoid muscle, omohyoid muscle, and sternohyoid muscle.