Introduction
The trigeminal nerve is one of the brain nerves, i.e. the twelve nerves that originate in the brain. It is the fifth and largest cranial nerve and has many different functions. The trigeminal nerve is also called the triplet nerve because it produces three nerves in its course to supply the face. On the one hand, it has motor functions, i.e. it is responsible for movements, and on the other hand, it also contains sensitive fibers that supply the brain with information about facial touches and pain.
History
The trigeminal nerve has its origin in the brain, or more precisely in various brain nerve nuclei in the brain. These are arranged in pairs so that the trigeminal nerve is present on both sides of the brain. At the point of origin, two nerve roots can be distinguished.
One carries the motor fibers, the other the sensitive fibers. In the area of the so-called bridge (a special area of the brain), the trigeminal nerve leaves the brain and breaks through the hard meninges near the petrous bone. In a duplication of the hard meninges (dura mater), the trigeminal nerve forms the so-called trigeminal ganglion.
This is a thickening that is caused by an accumulation of many nerve cells. Here the trigeminal nerve divides into its three end branches. These end branches move as separate nerves to their respective target areas and leave the skull through different openings.
There is the ophthalmic nerve, the maxillary nerve and the mandibular nerve. The branch of the eye moves towards the orbit to divide into its end branches. The branch of the upper jaw leaves the skull through a hole on the underside of the skull (rotundum foramen) and moves towards the upper jaw, where it splits into its end branches. The lower branch, together with the motor fibers, moves to the lower jaw, where it releases the end branches. Since the trigeminal nerve is a very large nerve and therefore supplies a large part of the head with nerve fibers, it is accompanied on some sections by other nerves that use it as a guiding structure.
