NERVE OF MASTICATION 



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receives a filament of communication, lies behind the inferior maxil- 

 lary division of the large root and passes out of the cranial cavity by 

 the foramen ovale. Within the cranium the two roots are distinct ; but 

 after the small root passes through the foramen, it is united by a mutual 

 interlacement of fibres with the sensory branch. 



The inferior maxillary nerve, made up of the motor root and the 

 inferior maxillary division of the sensory root, just after it passes out 



Fig. 121. Distribution of the small root of the fifth, nerve (Hirschfeld). 



I, branch to the masseter muscle ; 2, filament of this branch to the temporal muscle ; 3, buccal branch ; 

 4, branches anastomosing with the facial nerve; 5, filament from the buccal branch to the temporal 

 muscle ; 6, branches to the external pterygoid muscle ; 7, middle deep temporal branch ; 8, auriculo-tem- 

 poral nerve; 9, temporal branches; 10, auricular branches; n, anastomosis with the facial nerve; 

 12, lingual branch ; 13, branch of the small root to the mylo-hyoid muscle ; 14, inferior dental nerve, with 

 its branches (15, 15) ; 16, mental branch ; 17, anastomosis of this branch with the facial nerve. 



by the foramen ovale, divides into two branches, anterior and posterior. 

 The anterior branch, which is the smaller, is composed almost entirely 

 of motor filaments and is distributed to the muscles of mastication. It 

 gives off five branches. The first passes to be distributed to the mas- 

 seter muscle, in its course occasionally giving off a small branch to 

 the temporal muscle and a filament to the articulation of the inferior 

 maxilla with the temporal bone. The two deep temporal branches are 



