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RESEARCH.

MENTALIS.
 

                    The Mentalis is the other half of the pout.  It contributes to a great number of expressions.  This includes partly restrained anger and sadness and the stifled smile.  The mentalis creates the charismatic down curved mouth by pushing the centre of the lips up.  The lips are pushed up because the skin over the chin, which is where the mentalis inserts, is on it's way toward the base of the teeth, which is where the muscle attaches.  (see fig 17 )  When the mentalis contracts, the ball of the chin tries to move up and under the base of the lower lip.  If the push is strong enough, then the lower lip thrusts further out than the upper lip in a pout.
                    The bottom lip becomes greatly intensified by the mentalis, with a sharper shadow underneath and more sense of an overhang. ( see fig 18 )   The teamwork of mentalis and Triangularis is what we see most often on the face.  The action of the two muscles compliments each other.  The mentalis is the specialist in pushing the lips up in the middle, and the triangularis in pulling the lips down at the ends.

Fig . 17 - The Mentalis muscle fibers.            Fig . 18 - The Mentalis in action.