Page 284 - My FlipBook

294 — ANATOMY. —

(a) Two or three external pterygoids, which are given oif as the nerve
passes through the external pterygoid muscle.
(6) An anterior deep temporal branch, which usually joins the deep
temporal nerve. It passes upward to the thick portion of the tem-
poral muscle.
(e) A descending branch, which passes to the insertion of the tem-
poral muscle.
(d) Superior terminal branches, which su]>ply the upper portion of
the buccinator muscle, the skin of the malar and buccal region. These
branches interlace with the facial nerve near the parotid duct.
(e) Inferior termimd branches, which pass forward to the angle of the
mouth, and are distributed to the skin, the lower portion of the buc-
cinator muscle, as well as the Ijuccal mucous membrane and glands.
These branches, together with buccal branches of the facial nerve, form
a plexus around the facial vein.
Variations.—The buccal nerve occasionally arises from the superior
maxillary nerve. Turner reports a case in which it arose from the
inferior dental nerve and passed through a foramen in the alveolar
border near the ramus of the inferior maxillar\^ bone. Gillette has
seen it arising in one case from the Grasserian ganglion, passing through
a special forameu situated between the round and oval foramen in the
great wing of the sphenoid bone.
The posterior or sensory branches of the third division of the fifth
nerv^e are
Auriculo-temporal, Inferior dental.
Gustatory or lingual.
The Auriculo-temporal Nerve usually arises by two roots, of unequal
size, situated close to the foramen ovale. At first they pass backward
and outward, one on either side of the middle meningeal artery. They
then unite and fi>rm a flattened trunk, which passes backward beneath
the external pterygoid muscle to the inner side of the neck of the condyle
of the inferior maxilla. It curves around the condyle of the lower jaw
in company ^^^th the superficial temporal artery, passes upward between
the ear and the temporo-maxillary articulation, thence over the zygoma
and Ijeneath the superficial temporal artery, terminating in several fila-
ments which are distributed to the skin over the greater portion of the
temporal region, extending to its superior extremity. They interlace
anteriorly with the facial nerve.
Branches of the auriculo-temporal nerve are
Communicating, Parotid,
Articular, Anterior auricular.
Branches to external auditory meatus,
The Communicating Branrhrs ai'e slender filaments which pass between
the otic ganglion and the third division of tlie fifth nerve near its origin.
One or two branches which are given off near the neck of the condyle
of the lower jaw pass forward beneath the facial nerve, unite with it
near the posterior border of the masseter muscle, and form one of the
principal communicating branches between the facial and trifiicial nerves.
The Artiodar Bnrnchcs arc one or two fine filaments which pass to
the temporo-maxillary articulation.