Sutures

Sutura is that form of articulation where the contiguous margins of the bones are united by a thin layer of fibrous tissue; it is met with only in the skull. When the margins of the bones are connected by a series of processes, and indentations interlocked together, the articulation is termed a true suture (sutura vera); and of this there are three varieties: sutura dentata, serrata, and limbosa. The margins of the bones are not in direct contact, being separated by a thin layer of fibrous tissue, continuous externally with the pericranium, internally with the dura mater. The sutura dentata is so called from the tooth-like form of the projecting processes, as in the suture between the parietal bones. In thesutura serrata the edges of the bones are serrated like the teeth of a fine saw, as between the two portions of the frontal bone. In the sutura limbosa, there is besides the interlocking, a certain degree of bevelling of the articular surfaces, so that the bones overlap one another, as in the suture between the parietal and frontal bones. When the articulation is formed by roughened surfaces placed in apposition with one another, it is termed a false suture (sutura notha), of which there are two kinds: the sutura squamosa, formed by the overlapping of contiguous bones by broad bevelled margins, as in the squamosal suture between the temporal and parietal, and the sutura harmonia, where there is simple apposition of contiguous rough surfaces, as in the articulation between the maxillæ, or between the horizontal parts of the palatine bones.