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The intermediate sensory division of the trigeminal (5th cranial) nerve. The maxillary nerve carries general afferents from the intermediate region of the face including the lower eyelid, nose and upper lip, the maxillary teeth, and parts of the dura.

Are two in number, and formed of the second and third branches of the fifth pair. The Superior Maxillary Nerve, arises from the middle of the gangliform enlargement of the fifth pair; passes forwards, and issues from the cranium through the foramen rotundum of the sphenoid bone; enters the spheno-maxillary fossa, which it crosses horizontally; passes into the infraorbitar canal, which it traverses; and makes its exit to vanish on the cheek. It gives off the following branches, - the orbitar, a branch which goes to the spheno-palatine ganglion; posterior dental branches; the anterior dental, - and terminates in the infra-orbitar nerves, which are divided into superior, inferior, and internal. The inferior maxillary nerve, Nerf maxillaire (Ch.), is the largest of the three branches furnished by the fifth pair. It issues from the cranium by the foramen ovale of the sphenoid. Having reached the zygomatic fossa, it divides into two trunks; the one superior and external, which gives off the temporales profundi, masseterine, buccal and pterygoids; - the other- inferior and internal- the larger of the two, which furnishes the inferior dental, lingual, and auricular.