facial nerve
Sign in to saveAlso known as nervus facialis, CN VII, cranial nerve VII
seventh cranial nerve
Key facts
- From
- Facial nerve nucleus , intermediate nerve
- To
- Greater superficial petrosal nerve
- Innervates
- Motor: Muscles of facial expression , posterior belly of digastric , stylohyoid , stapedius , Special sensory: taste to anterior two-thirds of tongue , Parasympathetic: submandibular gland , sublingual gland , lacrimal glands
- Latin
- nervus facialis
- Mesh
- D005154
- Ta98
- A14.2.01.099
via Wikipedia infobox
Research
38,105 papers- Facial Nerve and Parotid Gland Anatomy.Otolaryngologic clinics of North America · 2016
- Facial Nerve Reconstruction.Otolaryngologic clinics of North America · 2023
- Facial nerve decompression.Current opinion in otolaryngology & head and neck surgery · 2018
- Facial Nerve Monitoring.Advances in oto-rhino-laryngology · 2016
- Facial nerve paralysis.Primary care · 1990
via PubMed
Wikidata facts
- Image
- Cranial nerve VII.svg
Show 2 more facts
- Commons category
- Nervus facialis
- NCI Thesaurus ID
- C12714
via Wikidata · CC0
~14 min read
Article
The facial nerve, also known as the seventh cranial nerve, cranial nerve VII, or simply CN VII, is a cranial nerve that emerges from the pons of the brainstem, controls the muscles of facial expression, and functions in the conveyance of taste sensations from the anterior two-thirds of the tongue. The nerve typically travels from the pons through the facial canal in the temporal bone and exits the skull at the stylomastoid foramen. It arises from the brainstem from an area posterior to the cranial nerve VI (abducens nerve) and anterior to cranial nerve VIII (vestibulocochlear nerve).
The facial nerve also supplies preganglionic parasympathetic fibers to several head and neck ganglia.