Muscle · Head

Mentalis

Musculus mentalis

A short cone of muscle in the middle of the chin, and the only muscle that lifts the lower lip. It runs from a small hollow in the jawbone behind the lower front teeth downward and forward into the skin of the chin, so contracting it pushes the chin skin up, wrinkles it into the familiar dimpled or cobblestone texture, and shoves the lower lip up and outward into a pout. It is the muscle that gives away suppressed emotion — the chin that puckers before someone cries — and its resting tone is what holds the lower lip against the teeth.