Medial pterygoid nerve

Not to be confused with lateral pterygoid nerve.

The medial pterygoid nerve (nerve to medial pterygoid,^[1] or internal pterygoid nerve^{[citation needed]}) is a nerve of the head. It is a branch of the mandibular nerve (CN V₃). It supplies the medial pterygoid muscle, the tensor veli palatini muscle, and the tensor tympani muscle.

Medial pterygoid nerve
Mandibular division of the trigeminus nerve. (Internal pterygoid nerve visible but not labeled.)
Mandibular division of trifacial nerve, seen from the middle line. Nerve to medial pterygoid labeled at bottom.
Details
From	Mandibular nerve
Innervates	Medial pterygoid, tensor veli palatini, tensor tympani
Identifiers
Latin	nervus pterygoideus internus, nervus pterygoideus medialis
TA98	A14.2.01.066
TA2	6250
FMA	53056
Anatomical terms of neuroanatomy [edit on Wikidata]

Structure

Origin

The medial pterygoid nerve is a slender branch of the mandibular nerve (CN V₃) (itself a branch of the trigeminal nerve (CN V)).^[1]

Course

It passes through the otic ganglion (without synapsing).^{[2][better source needed]} It penetrates the deep surface of the medial pterygoid muscle. It issues 1-2 twigs which traverse the otic ganglion (without synapsing) to reach and innervate the tensor tympani muscle, and tensor veli palatini muscle.^[1]

Distribution

The medial pterygoid nerve supplies the medial pterygoid muscle, tensor tympani muscle, and tensor veli palatini muscle (via the nerve to tensor veli palatini).^[1]

The tensor veli palati muscle is the only of the five paired skeletal muscles to the soft palate not innervated by the pharyngeal plexus.^{[citation needed]}