Mandibular foramen

Mandibular foramen

Posterior view of a model of a human mandible, with the mandibular foramina highlighted in red.

Mandible. Inner surface. Side view. (Mandibular foramen visible at left.)
Details
Identifiers
Latin foramen mandibulae
Dorlands
/Elsevier
f_12/12373269
TA A02.1.15.028
FMA 53172

Anatomical terms of bone

The mandibular foramen is an opening on the internal surface of the ramus (posterior and perpendicularly oriented part of the mandible) for divisions of the mandibular nerve and blood vessels to pass through.

Contents

The mandibular nerve is one of three branches of the trigeminal nerve (CN V), and the only one having motor innervation.

One branch of it, the inferior alveolar nerve as well as the inferior alveolar artery enter the foramen traveling through the body in the mandibular canal and facial nerve exit at the mental foramen on the anterior mandible at which point the nerve is known as the mental nerve.

These nerves provide sensory innervation to the lower teeth, as well as the lower lip and some skin on the lower face.

Structures of rim

There are two distinct anatomies to its rim.

Additional images

External links


This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the Friday, May 06, 2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.