Abstract:
The styloid process is a slender, elongated, cylindrical bony projection from temporal bone. It normally
varies in length from 2 cm to 3 cm. During a routine demonstration of skull for MBBS students we
found the bilateral elongated styloid process in dry human skull. The length of elongation measured on
the right and left side was 6.0 & 5.9 cms respectively. Such abnormal elongation of the styloid process
may cause compression on a number of vital vessels and nerves related to it, producing inflammatory
changes that include continuous chronic pain in the pharyngeal region. Mechanical stresses stretching
the second brachial arch during fetal development probably induce variable involvement of Reichert's
cartilage in morphogenesis of the styloid process. It is important that clinicians especially dentists and
otolaryngologists are aware of the natural variations of the styloid process and do not consider the
styloid process with a length of 30 mm as an abnormality or as an anomaly.
