Blood and nerve supply of the oral cavity

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Transcript
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The oral cavity or mouth, though quite small, is supplied by a dense network of nerves and blood vessels.
The nerve supply comes from the branches of six cranial nerves, namely - the trigeminal nerve, facial nerve, glossopharyngeal nerve, vagus nerve, and the hypoglossal nerve, whereas the blood supply comes from the branches of the external carotid artery and the veins drain into the internal and external jugular veins.
First off, let's start with the arteries.
The arterial supply comes from the external carotid artery branches - the lingual artery, facial artery, and the maxillary artery.
The lingual artery is the second branch of the external carotid artery and arises at the level of the greater cornu of the hyoid bone.
It runs upwards and medially till it reaches the greater cornu and then dips downwards, beneath the posterior belly of digastric and stylohyoid muscles, creating a loop over the hypoglossal nerve.
The lingual artery then ascends almost vertically upwards to reach the tongue's inferior surface and continues as its terminal branch, the deep lingual artery, which supplies the anterior two-thirds of the tongue.
The lingual artery gives off four branches: the suprahyoid artery, the dorsal lingual artery, the deep lingual artery, and the sublingual artery.
The suprahyoid artery runs along the hyoid bone and supplies the omohyoid, sternothyroid, and thyrohyoid muscles.
Summary
The oral cavity is the first part of the digestive system and is responsible for breaking down food so that it can be digested. The oral cavity is lined with mucous membranes and contains teeth, the tongue, and the salivary glands. The oral cavity and its components receive the blood supply from the facial, the lingual, and the maxillary branches of the external carotid artery. The venous drainage of the oral cavity accompanies its arterial supply, finally draining into the external and internal jugular veins. The lymphatic drainage of the oral cavity drains into the submental, submandibular, and deep cervical lymph nodes. The nerves of the oral cavity include the trigeminal nerve (CN V), facial nerve (CN VII), glossopharyngeal nerve (CN IX), vagus nerve (CN X), and hypoglossal nerve (CN XII).