Introduction

Study of the anatomy of the head and neck is perhaps the most daunting of all the compartmentalized anatomical studies. The approach to this complicated region may primarily be somewhat different (or at least differently focused) if there is a dental, oral surgeon, faciomaxillary or plastic reconstructive audience but I hope in this series to include with the anatomy aspects of the discussion an approach that appeals to these separate groups. I think firstly that we need in very broad terms to agree to achieve particular targets even though in areas for example like the autonomic innervation there will be overlapping discussions. In studying the anatomy of the head and neck, both students and teachers alike can often feel at various points that the issue is becoming too disconnected; namely that it is just degenerating into a disconnected series of facts and lists. We should be reminded that areas will overlap (such as the component parts of the cervical plexus, the fascial arrangements around the salivary glands, the foraminae of the skull, the branches of the Vagus nerve, particular aspects of individual cranial nerves and so on).