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Buccal nerve

Nerve: Buccal nerve

Sensory areas of the head, showing the general distribution of the three divisions of the fifth nerve. (Buccal nerve labeled at center left.)

Mandibular division of the trifacial nerve.
Latin	nervus buccalis
Gray's	subject #200 895
Innervates	lateral pterygoid muscle, cheek
From	mandibular nerve
Dorlands/Elsevier	n_05/12565268

The buccal nerve is a nerve in the face. It is a branch of the mandibular nerve (which is itself a branch of the trigeminal nerve) and transmits sensory information from skin over the buccal membrane (in general, the cheek) and from the second and third molar teeth.

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Course

It courses between the two heads of the lateral pterygoid muscle, underneath the tendon of the temporalis muscle, and then under the masseter muscle to connect with the buccal branches of the facial nerve on the surface of the buccinator muscle.

Target

Small branches of the buccal nerve innervate the lateral pterygoid muscle. It also gives sensory branches to the cheek.

Related nerves

The facial nerve (CN VII) also has buccal branches, which carry motor innervation to the buccinator muscle, a muscle of facial expression. This should not be confused with the buccal branch of the trigeminal nerve, which supplies motor innervation to the lateral pterygoid, a muscle of mastication. This follows from the trigeminal (V3) supplying all muscles of mastication and the facial (VII) supplying all muscles of facial expression.

Additional images

References

"Nerve, buccal." Stedman's Medical Dictionary, 27th ed. (2000). ISBN 0-683-40007-X
Gray's Anatomy: The Anatomical Basis of Clinical Practice. (2005). ISBN 0-443-07168-3

v • d • e

The cranial nerves: trigeminal nerve

V1 - ophthalmic

lacrimal • frontal (supratrochlear, supraorbital) • nasociliary (long root of ciliary, long ciliary, infratrochlear, posterior ethmoidal, anterior ethmoidal)
parasympathetic ganglion: 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)

parasympathetic ganglion: pterygopalatine ganglion (deep petrosal, nerve of pterygoid canal) - branches of distribution (greater palatine, lesser palatine, nasopalatine, pharyngeal)

V3 - mandibular

meningeal • medial pterygoid

anterior (masseteric, deep temporal, buccal, lateral pterygoid)

posterior (auriculotemporal, lingual, inferior alveolar, mylohyoid, mental)

parasympathetic ganglion: otic ganglion • submandibular ganglion

Categories: Head and neck | Peripheral nervous system

This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article "Buccal_nerve". A list of authors is available in Wikipedia.