The facial skeleton, consisting of bones situated between the cranial base and the mandibular region. While some consider the facial bones to comprise the hyoid (hyoid bone), palatine (HARD palate), and zygomatic (zygoma) bones, mandible, and maxilla, others include also the lacrimal and nasal bones, inferior nasal concha, and vomer but exclude the hyoid bone. (Jablonski, dictionary of dentistry, 1992, p113)