The mandibular nerve (V₃) is the largest of the three branches of the trigeminal nerve.

Supplies

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It supplies:

• part of the tongue
• the inside of the cheek (the buccal mucosa)
• teeth and gums of the mandible
• skin of the temporal region
• auricula
• lower lip, and chin
• muscles of mastication
• mucous membrane of the anterior two-thirds of the tongue

Roots

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It is made up of two roots:

• a large sensory root proceeding from the inferior angle of the semilunar ganglion.
• a small motor root (the motor part of the trigeminal), which passes beneath the ganglion, and unites with the sensory root, just after its exit through the foramen ovale.

Path

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It exits the cranial fossa (at the base of the skull) through the foramen ovale.

It runs into the mandible via the mandibular foramen where it becomes the inferior alveolar nerve. (The inferior alveolar nerve carries sensation from the teeth of the lower jaw and their surrounding soft tissue.)

Immediately beneath the base of the skull, the nerve gives off from its medial side a recurrent branch (nervus spinosus) and the nerve to the medial pterygoid muscle, and then divides into two trunks, an anterior and a posterior.

Branches

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• Nervus spinosus

• Internal pterygoid nerve

• anterior and smaller division of the mandibular nerve
  • masseteric nerve
  • deep temporal nerve
  • buccinator nerve
  • external pterygoid nerve

• posterior and larger division of the mandibular nerve
  • auriculotemporal nerve
    • anterior auricular branches
    • branches to the external acoustic meatus
    • articular branches
    • parotid branches
    • superficial temporal branches
  • lingual nerve
  • inferior alveolar nerve
    • mylohyoid nerve
    • dental branches
    • incisive branch
    • mental nerve

• Otic ganglion

• Submaxillary ganglion

External links

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• Illustration

Peripheral nervous system

Nervus mandibularis