[Connection of trigeminal nerve and facial nerve branches and its clinical significance].

In recent years, many anatomical researches have showed that there are common and extensive connections between the trigeminal nerve and the facial nerve.They are briefly outlined as follows: (1) The infraorbital nerve communicates with buccal branch of the facial nerve. (2) The auriculotemporal nerve of the trigeminal nerve communicates with the buccal, zygomatic,temporal branches and the upper divisions of the facial nerve. (3) The supraorbital nerve communicates with the zygomatic and temporal branches of the facial nerve. (4) The mental nerve communicates with the marginal mandibular branch of the facial nerve. (5) The buccinator nerve communicates with the zygomatic, buccal and marginal mandibular branches. These communications between the trigeminal nerve and facial nerve are probably related to several clinical signs, for example,some trigeminal neuralgia patients are complicated by facial spasm, some patients appeared spontaneous partial functional recovery of mimetic muscles following surgical resection of a considerable segment of the facial nerve (including a portion of its main trunk and the peripheral plexus), etc. The purpose of this article was to review the anatomical features and clinical significance of the communications between the trigeminal nerve and the facial nerve.