Mandibular division of the trifacial nerve.
|- style="text-align: center;" class="hiddenStructure"
| colspan="2" |
|- style="text-align: center; line-height: 1;" class="hiddenStructure"
| colspan="2" |
|- class="hiddenStructure"
|Latin
|colspan="2"|n. buccinatorus
|- class="hiddenStructure"
|
|colspan="2"|[subject #200 ]
|- class="hiddenStructure"
|Innervates
|colspan="2"|lateral pterygoid muscle
|- class="hiddenStructure"
|From
|colspan="2"|mandibular nerve
|- class="hiddenStructure"
|To
|colspan="2"|
|- class="hiddenStructure"
|MeSH
|colspan="2"|[]
|- class="hiddenStructure"
|Dorlands/Elsevier
|colspan="2"|[/]
|}
A branch of the mandibular nerve (which is itself a branch of the trigeminal nerve), the buccal nerve transmits sensory information from skin over the buccal membrane (in general, the cheek) and from the second and third molar teeth. It courses between the two heads of the lateral pterygoid muscle, underneath the tendon of the temporalis muscle, and then over the masseter muscle to connect with the buccal branches of the facial nerve. Small nerves that branch off of the buccal nerve innervate the lateral pterygoid muscle.
Details from Gray's anatomy
The Buccinator Nerve (n. buccinatorus; long buccal nerve) passes forward between the two heads of the Pterygoideus externus, and downward beneath or through the lower part of the Temporalis; it emerges from under the anterior border of the Masseter, ramifies on the surface of the Buccinator, and unites with the buccal branches of the facial nerve.
It supplies a branch to the Pterygoideus externus during its passage through that muscle, and may give off the anterior deep temporal nerve.
The buccinator nerve supplies the skin over the Buccinator, and the mucous membrane lining its inner surface.
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
