ACTIVITY 4
Muscles affected by Bell's Palsy and their corresponding actions
- Frontalis - This muscle draws scalp anteriorly, raises eyebrows, and wrinkles skin of forehead horizontally.
- Orbicularis oculi - This muscle closes the eyes and allows squinting, blinking, and winking.
- Orbicularis oris - This muscle closes and protrudes lips ("kissing muscle"), compresses lips against teeth, and shapes lips during speech.
- Buccinator - This muscle 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.
- Platysma - This muscle draws outer part of lower lip inferiorly and posteriorly as in pouting, and it depresses mandible.
Other muscle(s) affected
- Depressor anguli oris - This muscle draws angle of mouth laterally and inferiorly, as in opening mouth.
Mechanism of his muscle weakness
- Bell's palsy is a neurological disorder characterized by facial paralysis or weakness on one side of the face of the patient. It is believed to be the result of the compression of the seventh cranial nerve at the geniculate ganglion. Most of the cases of compression, according to Warner et al. (2023), take place at the labyrinthine segment, which is the narrowest opening in the first portion of the facial canal. Inflammation due to this narrow opening then leads to nerve compression and ischemia (Warner et al., 2023).
Other symptoms the patient could exhibit as a result of facial muscle weakness
- Facial pain or abnormal sensations
- Twitching
- Difficulty closing an eye
- Excessive tearing in one eye
- Dre eye and mouth
- Loss of sense of taste
- Sensitive to loud noises
- Difficulty in speaking
- Difficulty in eating and drinking
- Difficulty making facial expressions like smiling, grimacing, etc.
REFERENCES:
Bell’s Palsy. (n.d.). National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke. https://www.ninds.nih.gov/health-information/disorders/bells-palsy
Tortora, G. J., & Derrickson, B. (2017). Principles of anatomy and physiology (15th ed.). Wiley Custom Learning Solutions. https://handoutset.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/Principles-of-anatomy-and-physiology-Wiley-2017-Derrickson-Bryan-H._-Tortora-Gerard-J..pdf
Warner, M., Hutchison, J., Varacallo, M. (2023). Bell palsy. StatPearls Publishing. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK482290/#:~:text=Due%20to%20the%20narrow%20opening,the%20muscles%20of%20the%20forehead.
What is Bell’s Palsy? (n.d.). Penn Medicine. https://www.pennmedicine.org/for-patients-and-visitors/patient-information/conditions-treated-a-to-z/bells-palsy#:~:text=Bell%20palsy%20is%20a%20disorder,or%20paralysis%20of%20these%20muscles.