Trigeminal Nerve Distribution

A lateral dissection showing the peripheral branches of the trigeminal nerve over the face and jaws: the auriculotemporal, buccal, lingual, inferior alveolar, mylohyoid and mental nerves from the mandibular division, and the infraorbital and zygomatic branches from the maxillary division, alongside masseter, buccinator and temporalis.

No nerve is tested more heavily in dentistry. Questions ask which division supplies a tooth or soft-tissue area, which branches an inferior alveolar block anaesthetises, why the long buccal nerve needs a separate injection, and what numbness in the lip or tongue after third molar surgery implies. The mandibular division is the only one with a motor root, supplying the muscles of mastication, mylohyoid, the anterior digastric belly, tensor veli palatini and tensor tympani.