The face's feeling nerve
Trigeminal nerve (V) · nervus trigeminus
The fifth cranial nerve, carrying touch and pain from your face and powering your chewing muscles.
What it does
The trigeminal nerve has three branches that cover the forehead and eye, the cheek and upper jaw, and the lower jaw. Together they carry touch, pain and temperature from the face, teeth and inside of the mouth and nose. A separate motor part moves the chewing muscles.
Surprising fact
Its name means "three-born twins", after its three main branches, and its lower branch is the one dentists numb before working on lower teeth.
Why it matters
Trigeminal neuralgia, sudden electric pain along one branch, is described as one of the most severe pains known. A sneeze is also partly a trigeminal reflex.
Nearby
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Sources
Drafted with AI help; awaiting a human fact-check against these sources.
Open in the 3D atlas · Suggest a correction · Not medical advice.
3D models: Z-Anatomy & BodyParts3D (CC BY-SA 4.0 / 2.1 JP). Card text CC BY 4.0.