Supernumerary Bones in the Walls of the Bony Orbit

Occurrence of supernumerary bones in the walls of the orbit especially in the medial wall and the roof has beendescribed in the literature. Studies of the prevalence of supernumerary bones in the bony wall of the orbit are scarce in theliterature. Present study was undertaken to find the prevalence of supernumerary bones in the walls of the orbit in acollection of adult Indian skulls.In the present study three hundred and twenty six orbital walls from one hundred and sixty three skulls wereexamined for the presence of the sutural bones. Their location with reference to the sutures in the walls of the orbit andtheir size was noted. The supernumerary bones were found in 25 skulls (15.34 %) mainly in the lateral wall (11.04 %) and theroof of the orbit (4.29 %). Prevalence of such supernumerary bones in the walls of the bony orbit is of anthropologicalinterest. Many of the bony ossicles were of sufficiently large size, enough to be visualized on lateral skull X-ray and couldeasily be mistaken for fracture of the bony wall of the orbit.