Which cranial nerve supplies the main sensory innervation of teeth and jaws?
Trigeminal nerve (CN V).
What are the three divisions of the trigeminal nerve (CN V)?
Which trigeminal division supplies maxillary teeth and maxillary gingiva?
V2 (maxillary nerve).
Which trigeminal division supplies mandibular teeth and mandibular gingiva?
V3 (mandibular nerve).
Which trigeminal division carries motor fibres to muscles of mastication?
V3 (mandibular nerve).
Name the muscles of mastication innervated by V3.
Masseter, temporalis, medial pterygoid, lateral pterygoid.
What is the key sensory nerve for mandibular teeth?
Inferior alveolar nerve (IAN).
From which nerve does the inferior alveolar nerve arise?
Mandibular nerve (V3), posterior division.
Where does the inferior alveolar nerve enter the mandible?
Through the mandibular foramen on the medial surface of the ramus.
What bony canal does the inferior alveolar nerve travel within?
Mandibular canal.
What does the inferior alveolar nerve supply?
Pulpal sensation of all mandibular teeth on that side (via dental branches in the canal).
What are the terminal branches of the inferior alveolar nerve?
Mental nerve and incisive nerve.
What is the incisive nerve and what does it supply?
Where does the mental nerve exit the mandible?
Mental foramen (commonly near apices of premolars, often second premolar region).
What does the mental nerve supply?
What clinical symptom strongly suggests IAN or mental nerve involvement?
Numbness/paraesthesia of lower lip and chin.
Which procedures commonly risk IAN injury?
What are typical signs/symptoms of inferior alveolar nerve injury?
Paraesthesia=>an abnormal spontaneous sensation like tingling or pins and needles.
Hypoesthesia=>decreased sensitivity to sensory stimuli.
Dysesthesia=>unpleasant abnormal sensation, often painful
neuropathic pain=>Pain caused by a lesion or disease affecting the somatosensory nervous system.
How do you perform a basic chairside sensory test for IAN/mental nerve deficit?
What is the medico-legal priority if a patient reports numbness after extraction?
What is the lingual nerve a branch of?
Mandibular nerve (V3), posterior division.
Where does the lingual nerve run in the mandible clinically (key viva point)?
What does the lingual nerve supply (general sensation)?
General sensation from anterior two-thirds of tongue, floor of mouth, and lingual gingiva.
What does the lingual nerve supply (taste) and via which nerve?
Taste from anterior two-thirds of tongue via chorda tympani (CN VII) fibres that join the lingual nerve.