benvägg

Benvägg is a Swedish term meaning a wall made of bone. It is used in anatomy to describe the bony boundaries that separate cavities or enclose structures, such as the cortical bone lining of skull and facial bones, nasal cavities, or dental sockets. The concept emphasizes the structural role of bone as a rigid barrier and supportive framework.

In dentistry and oral surgery, benvägg most often refers to the walls of the tooth socket, or alveolar bone walls. These walls can be buccal (cheek-side), lingual/palatal (tongue-side), mesial and distal. The integrity and thickness of the alveolar walls are crucial for tooth stability, periodontal health, and the success of implant procedures. Loss or thinning of these walls due to periodontal disease, trauma, or tooth extraction can lead to bone resorption and compromised function.

Beyond the jaws, benvägg can describe bony partitions within other anatomical regions, such as the walls between nasal sinuses or other cranial compartments. The bone composing these walls is typically cortical bone, which is dense and forms the main load-bearing structure, with remodeling occurring more slowly than in cancellous bone.

In medical imaging, benvägg appears as a dense, continuous line representing cortical bone. Pathological conditions may cause thinning, perforation, or irregularities of a benvägg, which can impact function or treatment planning. Understanding benvägg is important in fields ranging from dentistry and oral surgery to radiology and craniofacial anatomy. Etymologically, the term combines Swedish ben (bone) and vägg (wall).