Trigeminal nerve

The trigeminal nerve 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. Problems with the motor root of the trigeminal nerve result in deviation of the jaw toward the affected side and trouble chewing. The trigeminal nerve is the fifth cranial nerve. The cranial nerves, the trigeminal nerve included, 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 term "trigeminal" comes from the Latin "trigeminus" meaning "threefold," referring to the three divisions (ophthalmic, maxillary and mandibular) of this nerve.

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trigeminal nerve n either of the fifth pair of cranial nerves that are mixed nerves and in humans are the largest of the cranial nerves and that arise by a small motor root and a larger sensory root which both emerge from the side of the pons with the sensory root bearing the trigeminal ganglion and dividing into ophthalmic, maxillary, and mandibular nerves and the motor root supplying fibers to the mandibular nerve and through this to the muscles of mastication called also fifth cranial nerve, trifacial nerve, trigeminus

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the fifth and largest cranial nerves (V), which is split into three divisions: the ophthalmic, maxillary, and mandibular nerves. The motor fibres are responsible for controlling the muscles involved in chewing, while the sensory fibres relay information about temperature, pain, and touch from the whole front half of the head (including the mouth) and also from the meninges.

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nervus trigeminus.