Nerve, facial
The facial nerve is the seventh cranial nerve. It is a mixed nerve that has fibers both going out and coming in (both efferent and afferent fibers). It supplies the muscles of facial expression.
Paralysis of the facial nerve causes a characteristic picture with drooping of one side of the face, inability to wrinkle the forehead, inability to whistle, inability to close the eye and deviation of the mouth toward the other side of the face. Paralysis of the facial nerve is called Bell’s palsy.
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The fifth cranial nerve is the trigeminal nerve. The trigeminal nerve is quite complex. It functions both as the chief nerve of sensation for the face and the motor nerve controlling the muscles of mastication (chewing). Problems with the sensory part of the trigeminal nerve result in pain or loss of sensation in the face. […]
- Nerve, first cranial
The first cranial nerve is the olfactory nerve, the nerve that carries impulses for the sense of smell from the nose to the brain. The cranial nerves emerge from or enter the skull (the cranium), as opposed to the spinal nerves which emerge from the vertebral column. There are twelve cranial nerves. The word “olfactory” […]
- Nerve, fourth cranial
The fourth cranial nerve, the trochlear nerve, is the nerve supply to the superior oblique muscle of the eye, one of the muscles that moves the eye. Paralysis of the trochlear nerve results in rotation of the eyeball upward and outward (and, therefore, double vision). The twelve cranial nerves, the trochlear nerve included, emerge from […]
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The glossopharyngeal nerve is the ninth cranial nerve. The 12 cranial nerves, the glossopharyngeal nerve included, emerge from or enter the skull (the cranium), as opposed to the spinal nerves which emerge from the vertebral column. The glossopharyngeal nerve supplies the tongue, throat, and one of the salivary glands (the parotid gland). Problems with the […]
- Parotid gland
The largest of the three major salivary glands, it is located in front and below the ear and behind the jaw bone. The other two glands are the submandibular (submaxillary) and sublingual.