Anatomy Atlases: Illustrated Encyclopedia of Human Anatomic Variation: Opus III: Nervous System: Cranial Nerves and Ganglia: Mandibular Nerve

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Illustrated Encyclopedia of Human Anatomic Variation: Opus III: Nervous System: Cranial Nerves and Ganglia

Mandibular Nerve

Ronald A. Bergman, PhD
Adel K. Afifi, MD, MS
Ryosuke Miyauchi, MD
Peer Review Status: Internally Peer Reviewed

Some of the branches of the smaller, superior division of this nerve may arise directly from the main trunk before it divides in two. In some cases, the two divisions of the nerve are separated by a small fibrous band (pterygosphenoid ligament), which extends from the root of the external (lateral) pterygoid plate to a point on the greater wing of the sphenoid in front of the foramen spinosum. This ligament is sometimes replaced by bone, and the smaller division of the nerve passes through a special foramen beneath the greater wing of the sphenoid, just lateral to the foramen ovale.

Image 20

References

Cushing, H. (1904) The sensory distribution of the fifth cranial nerve. Johns Hopkins Hospital Bulletin 15:213-232.

Schaefer, E.A., Symington, J. and T.H. Bryce., Eds. Quain's Anatomy,11th ed., Longmans, Green, and Co., London.

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