Activity 4
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Muscle: Occipitofrontalis
Action: Draws scalp anteriorly, raises eyebrows, and wrinkles skin of forehead horizontally as in look of surprise; draws scalp posteriorly
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Muscle: Orbicularis oculi
Action: closes eye
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Muscle: Orbicularis oris
Action: Closes and protrudes lips, as in kissing; compresses lips against teeth; and shapes lips during speech.
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Muscle: Buccinator
Action: Presses cheeks against teeth and lips, as in whistling, blowing, and sucking; draws corner of mouth laterally; and assists in mastication (chewing) by keeping food between the teeth (and not between teeth and cheeks).
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Muscle: Platysma
Action: Draws outer part of lower lip inferiorly and posteriorly as in pouting; depresses mandible.
Mechanisms: The facial nerve, which regulates facial movement, swells and causes Bell's palsy. The area of inflammation passes through the skull's bones. It is regarded as a mononeuritic variation of Guillain-Barré and is an acute demyelinating condition that resembles inflammatory neuritis. Bell's palsy always causes a unilateral motor impairment, affecting the upper and lower facial regions on one side of the face. This makes the condition easier to distinguish from a central supranuclear lesion, in which Bell's palsy mainly affects the lower facial muscles due to paresis.
Other symptoms: Other symptoms include the sudden onset of slight weakness to complete paralysis on one side of your face, which can happen in as little as three days or as long as hours. Additionally, they have trouble generating facial gestures like smiling or closing their eyes, as well as face droops. Other symptoms include dry eyes, ear pain, headaches, taste loss, and sensitivity to sounds, mainly ringing.