Mental nerve

Mental nerve
Distribution of the maxillary and mandibular nerves, and the submaxillary ganglion. (Mental nerve visible at bottom right, at chin.)
Sensory areas of the head, showing the general distribution of the three divisions of the fifth nerve. (Mental nerve labeled at bottom left, near chin, in yellow.)
Details
From	inferior alveolar nerve
Innervates	chin, lower lip
Identifiers
Latin	nervus mentalis
Dorlands /Elsevier	n_05/12566174
TA	A14.2.01.094
FMA	53250
Anatomical terms of neuroanatomy []

Mental nerve is a sensory nerve which provides sensation to the front of the chin and lower lip as well as the buccal gingivae of the mandibular anterior teeth and the premolars. It is a branch of the posterior trunk of the inferior alveolar nerve, which is itself a branch of the mandibular division of the trigeminal nerve (CN V).

The nerve emerges at the mental foramen in the mandibula, and divides beneath the Depressor anguli oris muscle into three branches:

These branches communicate freely with the facial nerve.

The mental nerve can be blocked with local anesthesia, a procedure used in surgery of the chin, lower lip and buccal mucosa from midline to the second premolar. In this technique, local anesthetic is infiltrated in the soft tissue surrounding the mental foramen.

This article incorporates text in the public domain from the 20th edition of Gray's Anatomy (1918)