Quick Facts
Origin: Anterior division of the mandibular nerve.
Course: Runs between the heads of the lateral pterygoid muscle, deep to the masseter, and into the cheek, superficial to the buccinator muscle.
Branches: None.
Supply: Conveying general sense fibers from the skin of the cheek and the mucosa deep to the buccinator muscle.
Related parts of the anatomy
Origin
The buccal nerve is a branch of the anterior division of the mandibular nerve. It originates deep to the lateral pterygoid muscle, inferior to the foramen ovale in the deep part of the infratemporal fossa. The buccal, anterior deep temporal, and the nerve to the lateral pterygoid muscle all branch from the anterior division of the mandibular nerve close together and more anteriorly than the other branches.
The sensory fibers of the buccal nerve have cell bodies located in the trigeminal ganglion.
Course
From its origin, the buccal nerve runs laterally, through the two heads of the lateral pterygoid muscle. It continues anteroinferiorly, running deep to the tendon of temporalis and the masseter muscles. Once past the masseter muscle, the buccal nerve continues anteriorly into the cheek, superficial to the buccinator muscle. It gives off fibers to the skin of the cheek while other fibers dive deep to penetrate the buccinator muscle and reach the mucosal lining of the cheek.
Branches
There are no named branches.
Supplied Structures
The buccal nerve is a sensory nerve. It conveys general sense fibers from the skin of the cheek and the mucosal lining of the cheek deep to the buccinator muscle. It also conveys sense information from the mucosal lining of the oral vestibule and gingiva lateral to mandibular molars.
