The Jaw Adductor Resultant and Estimated Bite Force in Primates

Figure 1

Diagrammatic representation of Greaves’ model regarding the location of the resultant of the jaw adductors (V). In this drawing (of the mandible of Varecia rubra), the vector is positioned 30% of the way on the line J-i, where J is the posterior edge of the mandibular condyle and i is the projection of the anterior tip of the most anteriorly projecting incisors (I) onto the plane that is perpendicular to V and runs through J. Greaves hypothesized that this point would divide J-i into a posterior portion (30% of the length of J-i) and an anterior portion (70%). Also, V should lie just posterior to the last molar, which it clearly does not in this diagram. Here, the posterior edge of m3 lies at nearly 40%. Drawing by AHR.