The retromolar space or retromolar gap is a space at the rear of the

mandible In anatomy, the mandible, lower jaw or jawbone is the largest, strongest and lowest bone in the human facial skeleton. It forms the lower jaw and holds the lower teeth in place. The mandible sits beneath the maxilla. It is the only movable bone ...

, between the back of the last molar and the anterior edge of the ascending ramus where it crosses the alveolar margin. This gap is generally small or absent in modern humans, but it was more often present in

Neanderthal Neanderthals (, also ''Homo neanderthalensis'' and erroneously ''Homo sapiens neanderthalensis''), also written as Neandertals, are an extinct species or subspecies of archaic humans who lived in Eurasia until about 40,000 years ago. While the ...

s, and it was common among some prehistoric

Amerindian The Indigenous peoples of the Americas are the inhabitants of the Americas before the arrival of the European settlers in the 15th century, and the ethnic groups who now identify themselves with those peoples. Many Indigenous peoples of the A ...

s, such as Arikara and Mandan.

Retromolar pad

The retromolar area of a human mandible is covered by the retromolar pad (also known as the piriformis

papilla Papilla (Latin, 'nipple') or papillae may refer to: In animals * Papilla (fish anatomy), in the mouth of fish * Basilar papilla, a sensory organ of lizards, amphibians and fish * Dental papilla, in a developing tooth * Dermal papillae, part of ...

), an elevated triangular area of mucosa. It is composed of non-keratinized loose alveolar tissue covering glandular tissues and muscle fibers. It is important for supporting lower complete and partial dentures as well as landmarking in the fabrication of dentures.

References

Dental anatomy Human mouth anatomy {{dentistry-stub