Transversus Menti

Origin, Insertion, Action & Nerve

Attachments explained

The Transversus Menti is defined first by where it attaches. Its origin is the more fixed anchor, usually the proximal or more stable end that stays put during contraction, while its insertion is the more mobile point that is pulled toward the origin when the muscle shortens.

Action & function

When the Transversus Menti contracts, it produces the following movement: Tenses the skin over the chin (variable accessory to depressor anguli oris).

As part of the Facial Expression group of the Head & Neck, it works alongside neighbouring muscles to generate smooth, coordinated movement and to stabilise the structures it acts on.

Nerve supply & clinical relevance

The Transversus Menti receives its nerve supply from the Marginal mandibular branch of facial nerve (CN VII).

Because a muscle can only contract when its nerve is intact, injury to the Marginal mandibular branch of facial nerve can weaken or paralyse the Transversus Menti, impairing the movements it normally produces (tenses the skin over the chin (variable accessory to depressor anguli oris)). This is why knowing the innervation is central to localising nerve lesions in clinical practice.

How to study the Transversus Menti (the OIANS method)

Understand the transversus menti not as a standalone muscle but as the horizontal continuation of the depressor anguli oris across the midline below the chin. Once you picture the two depressor anguli oris muscles connected by fibres that cross under the chin, both its location and its minor role in tensing the chin skin become obvious.

Because it is a variant slip of the depressor anguli oris, its nerve is the same: the marginal mandibular branch of the facial nerve (CN VII). The most testable idea is simply this continuity, so study transversus menti immediately after the depressor anguli oris and treat them as a single functional and neural unit.

Frequently asked questions

Related muscles