Apical ligament of dens

Ligament of apex dentis
	Median sagittal section through the occipital bone and first three cervical vertebrae (ligament of apex dentis labeled at center left as apical odontoid ligament)
Details
Identifiers
Latin	Ligamentum apicis dentis
TA	A03.2.04.003
FMA	71441
	Anatomical terminology

The ligament of apex dentis (or apical odontoid ligament) is a ligament that spans between the second cervical vertebra in the neck and the skull. It lies as a fibrous cord in the triangular interval between the alar ligaments, which extends from the tip of the odontoid process on the axis to the anterior margin of the foramen magnum, being intimately blended with the deep portion of the anterior atlantooccipital membrane and superior crus of the transverse ligament of the atlas.

B: Apical ligament of dens

It is regarded as a rudimentary intervertebral fibrocartilage, and in it traces of the notochord may persist.

References

This article incorporates text in the public domain from page 296 of the 20th edition of Gray's Anatomy (1918)

"Anatomy diagram: 25420.000-1". Roche Lexicon - illustrated navigator. Elsevier. Archived from the original on 2014-01-01.

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