So we're going to group the first two types of joints together because they're very similar. Those are fibrous and cartilaginous joints. So fibrous joints don't have a synovial cavity, but the articulating bones are actually held together by a really dense layer of fibrous connective tissue.
Now in terms of fibrous joints, they're not going to move. You're going to have very little or no movement at all. So the types of fibrous joints you see are sutures between the bones of the skull and syndesmoses, which are gonfosis, where the tooth attaches into the bone, and interosseous membranes of the lower leg and forearm. So sutures are synarthroses or synchondroses, basically an immovable or essentially immovable joint. These are found between the bones of the skull, and you can see in this figure here on the right the dense connective tissue between them.
Now remember, sutures are the result of the closure of fontanelles, which are the connections that are a bit more flexible in the newborn skull. Now, you have two types of syndesmoses. the interosseous membrane, which hold the tibia and fibula together in the lower leg, and then also run between the radius and ulna in the forearm. And then a gonfosis is also an immovable joint.
And this is where the root of the tooth sets in the alveolar bone of the mandible and the maxilla. Notice surrounding that this white layer, that is the periodontal ligament. So there is dense connective tissue found here as well. But both of these are essentially immovable joints. Now, cartilaginous joints also lack a synovial cavity.
But in this case, the cartilage connective tissue holds the bones together. And these are going to have little or no movement. If there's no movement, it's called a synchondrosis. If there's a little movement, this would include your symphyses and your intervertebral discs.
So a synarthrosis or a synchondrosis that has no movement, a good example is the epiphyseal plate where the diaphysis of the long bone connects to the epiphysis of the long bone. This is considered a temporary joint because it will ossify and disappear after puberty. Another example of a syndesmosis is the pubic symphysis.
And this is a fibrocartilaginous joint. It's a fibrous joint, but it's also a cartilaginous joint. It prevents most movement. You do get a little movement, particularly in pregnancy, as the pelvis expands to allow for childbirth. Intervertebral discs, or another type of symphysis, They're amphiarthrosis, so very little movement.
This is where you have cartilaginous discs between the vertebrae, so limited movement here.