Inferior alveolar nerve

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Nerve: Inferior alveolar nerve
Distribution of the maxillary and mandibular nerves, and the submaxillary ganglion. (Inferior alveolar visible at center left.)
Mandibular division of the trifacial nerve. (Inferior alveolar labeled at bottom right.)
Latin	nervus alveolaris inferior
Gray's	subject #200 896
From	mandibular nerve
To	mylohyoid, dental, incisive, and mental
Dorlands/Elsevier	n_05/12565154

The inferior alveolar nerve (sometimes called the inferior dental nerve) is a branch of the mandibular nerve, which is itself the third branch (V3) of the fifth cranial nerve, the trigeminal nerve (cranial nerve V).

The inferior alveolar nerve enters the mandible (lower jaw) via the mandibular foramen, located on the medial surface of the mandible.

The inferior alveolar nerve is located in the mandibular canal within the mandible, where it supplies the mandibular (lower) teeth with sensory branches.

Anteriorly, the nerve gives off the mental nerve at about the level of the mandibular 2nd premolars, which exits the mandible via the mental foramen (supplying sensory branches to the chin and lower lip).

The inferior alveolar nerve continues to innervate the mandibular canines and incisors.

[edit] Anesthesia

The inferior alveolar nerve is a common target for anesthesia during dental procedures involving the mandibular teeth.

Administration of anesthesia near the mandibular foramen causes blockage of the inferior alveolar nerve and the nearby lingual nerve (supplying the tongue). This is why the numbing of the lower jaw during dental procedures causes the patient to lose sensation in:

• their teeth (inferior alveolar nerve block)
• their lower lip and chin (mental nerve block)
• and their tongue (lingual nerve block).

[edit] Additional images

Mandible of human embryo 95 mm. long. Inner aspect. Nuclei of cartilage stippled.

[edit] External links

• SUNY Figs 27:03-06

Cranial nerves

I-IV: olfactory - optic - oculomotor - trochlear V: trigeminal: semilunar ganglion V1: ophthalmic: lacrimal - frontal (supratrochlear, supraorbital) - nasociliary (long root of ciliary, long ciliary, infratrochlear, ethmoidal) - ciliary ganglion - short ciliary V2: maxillary: middle meningeal - in the pterygopalatine fossa (zygomatic, zygomaticotemporal, zygomaticofacial, sphenopalatine, posterior superior alveolar) in the infraorbital canal (middle superior alveolar, anterior superior alveolar) on the face (inferior palpebral, external nasal, superior labial, infraorbital plexus) - pterygopalatine ganglion (deep petrosal, nerve of pterygoid canal) branches of distribution (palatine, nasopalatine, pharyngeal) V3: mandibular: nervus spinosus - internal pterygoid - anterior (masseteric, deep temporal, buccinator, external pterygoid) posterior (auriculotemporal, lingual, inferior alveolar, mylohyoid, mental) - otic ganglion - submandibular ganglion VI: abducent VII: facial: nervus intermedius - geniculate - inside facial canal (great petrosal, nerve to the stapedius, chorda tympani) at exit from stylomastoid foramen (posterior auricular, digastric - stylohyoid) on face (temporal, zygomatic, buccal, mandibular, cervical) VIII: vestibulocochlear: cochlear (striae medullares, lateral lemniscus) - vestibular IX: glossopharyngeal: fasciculus solitarius - nucleus ambiguus - sympathetic efferent fibers - ganglia (superior, petrous) - tympanic X: vagus: ganglia (jugular, nodose) - Alderman's nerve - in the neck (pharyngeal branch, superior laryngeal, recurrent laryngeal) - in the thorax (pulmonary branches, esophageal plexus) - in the abdomen (gastric plexuses, celiac plexus, gastric plexus) XI: accessory XII: hypoglossal