pages 896

nerve by a branch which may cross the internal maxillary artery. The chorda tympani also joins it at an acute angle in this situation. The nerve then passes between the Pterygoideus internus and the ramus of the mandible, and crosses obliquely to the side of the tongue over the Constrictor pharyngis superior and Styloglossus, and then between the Hyoglossus and deep part of the submaxillary gland; it finally runs across the duct of the submaxillary gland, and along the tongue to its tip, lying immediately beneath the mucous membrane.

Its branches of communication are with the facial (through the chorda tympani), the inferior alveolar and hypoglossal nerves, and the submaxillary ganglion. The branches to the submaxillary ganglion are two or three in number; those connected with the hypoglossal nerve form a plexus at the anterior margin of the Hyoglossus.

FIG. 782– Mandibular division of trifacial nerve, seen from the middle line. The small figure is an enlarged view of the otic ganglion. (Testut.) (See enlarged image)

Its branches of distribution supply the sublingual gland, the mucous membrane of the mouth, the gums, and the mucous membrane of the anterior two-thirds of the tongue; the terminal filaments communicate, at the tip of the tongue, with the hypoglossal nerve.

The Inferior Alveolar Nerve (n. alveolaris inferior; inferior dental nerve)(Fig. 782) is the largest branch of the mandibular nerve. It descends with the inferior alveolar artery, at first beneath the Pterygoideus externus, and then between the sphenomandibular ligament and the ramus of the mandible to the mandibular foramen. It then passes forward in the mandibular canal, beneath the teeth, as far as the mental foramen, where it divides into two terminal branches, incisive and mental.

The branches of the inferior alveolar nerve are the mylohyoid, dental, incisive, and mental.

The mylohyoid nerve (n. mylohyoideus) is derived from the inferior alveolar just

Contents -SUBJECT INDEX -BIBLIOGRAPHIC RECORD -ILLUSTRATION INDEX