Mental nerve

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Nerve: Mental nerve
Distribution of the maxillary and mandibular nerves, and the submaxillary ganglion. (Mental nerve visible at bottom right, at chin.)
Sensory areas of the head, showing the general distribution of the three divisions of the fifth nerve. (Mental nerve labeled at bottom left, near chin, in yellow.)
Latin	nervus mentalis
Gray's	subject #200 897
Innervates	chin, lower lip
From	mandibular nerve
To
MeSH	[1]

The mental nerve is a general somatic afferent (sensory) nerve which provides sensation to the anterior aspects of the chin and lower lip as well as the buccal gingivae of the mandibular anterior teeth and the premolars. It is a branch of the posterior trunk of the inferior alveolar nerve, which is itself a branch of the mandibular division of the trigeminal nerve (CN V).

The nerve emerges at the mental foramen, and divides beneath the Triangularis muscle into three branches:

• one descends to the skin of the chin.
• two ascend to the skin and mucous membrane of the lower lip.

These branches communicate freely with the facial nerve.

Additional images

Mandible of human embryo 24 mm. long. Outer aspect.

Mandibular division of the trifacial nerve.

The nerves of the scalp, face, and side of neck.

Outline of side of face, showing chief surface markings.

External links

• SUNY Labs 23:st-0610 - "Anatomy of the Superficial Face - Nerves"
• Dictionary at eMedicine Mental+nerve
• MedEd at Loyola GrossAnatomy/h_n/cn/cn1/cnb3.htm
• Norman/Georgetown cranialnerves (V)

This article was originally based on an entry from a public domain edition of Gray's Anatomy. As such, some of the information contained herein may be outdated. Please edit the article if this is the case, and feel free to remove this notice when it is no longer relevant.

Nerves of head and neck: the cranial nerves

I-IV: olfactory - optic - oculomotor - trochlear

V: trigeminal: trigeminal ganglion
V1: ophthalmic: lacrimal - frontal (supratrochlear, supraorbital) - nasociliary (long root of ciliary, long ciliary, infratrochlear, posterior ethmoidal, anterior ethmoidal) - ciliary ganglion (short ciliary)
V2: maxillary: middle meningeal - in the pterygopalatine fossa (zygomatic, zygomaticotemporal, zygomaticofacial, sphenopalatine, posterior superior alveolar)
in the infraorbital canal/infraorbital nerve (middle superior alveolar, anterior superior alveolar)
on the face (inferior palpebral, external nasal, superior labial, infraorbital plexus) - pterygopalatine ganglion (deep petrosal, nerve of pterygoid canal)
branches of distribution (palatine, nasopalatine, pharyngeal)
V3: mandibular: nervus spinosus - medial pterygoid - anterior (masseteric, deep temporal, buccal, lateral pterygoid)
posterior (auriculotemporal, lingual, inferior alveolar, mylohyoid, mental) - otic ganglion - submandibular ganglion

VI: abducens

VII: facial: nervus intermedius - geniculate - inside facial canal (greater petrosal, nerve to the stapedius, chorda tympani)
at exit from stylomastoid foramen (posterior auricular, digastric - stylohyoid)
on face (temporal, zygomatic, buccal, mandibular, cervical)

VIII: vestibulocochlear: cochlear (striae medullares, lateral lemniscus) - vestibular

IX: glossopharyngeal: fasciculus solitarius - nucleus ambiguus - ganglia (superior, petrous) - tympanic - carotid sinus

X: vagus: ganglia (jugular, nodose) - Alderman's nerve - in the neck (pharyngeal branch, superior laryngeal ext and int, recurrent laryngeal)
in the thorax (pulmonary branches, esophageal plexus) - in the abdomen (gastric plexuses, celiac plexus, gastric plexus)

XI: accessory XII: hypoglossal