Trigeminal: Fifth Cranial Nerve

The trigeminal is the largest and most complex of the 12 cranial nerves. It is a mixed motor and sensory nerve and supplies sensation to the face, mucous membranes and motor supply to the muscles of mastication and exits the brain by a large sensory root and smaller motor root coming out of the pons at its junction with the middle cerebral peduncle (Fig. 17.1).