Tympanic plexus

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Nerve: Tympanic plexus

View of the inner wall of the tympanum. (Grooves for tympanic plexus labeled at center.)

Plan of the facial and intermediate nerves and their communication with other nerves. (Tympanic plexus labeled at center.)
Latin	plexus tympanicus
Gray's	subject #204 909
Dorlands/Elsevier	p_24/12648546

In the tympanic cavity the tympanic nerve divides into branches which form the tympanic plexus and are contained in grooves upon the surface of the promontory.

This plexus gives off:

(1) the lesser superficial petrosal nerve
(2) a branch to join the greater superficial petrosal nerve
(3) branches to the tympanic cavity

This article was originally based on an entry from a public domain edition of Gray's Anatomy. As such, some of the information contained herein may be outdated. Please edit the article if this is the case, and feel free to remove this notice when it is no longer relevant.

v • d • e

Nerves of head and neck: the cranial nerves

I-IV: olfactory - optic - oculomotor (superior branch, inferior branch) - trochlear

V: trigeminal: trigeminal ganglion
V1: ophthalmic: lacrimal - frontal (supratrochlear, supraorbital) - nasociliary (long root of ciliary, long ciliary, infratrochlear, posterior ethmoidal, anterior ethmoidal) - ciliary ganglion (short ciliary)
V2: maxillary: middle meningeal - in the pterygopalatine fossa (zygomatic, zygomaticotemporal, zygomaticofacial, sphenopalatine, posterior superior alveolar)
in the infraorbital canal/infraorbital nerve (middle superior alveolar, anterior superior alveolar)
on the face (inferior palpebral, external nasal, superior labial, infraorbital plexus) - pterygopalatine ganglion (deep petrosal, nerve of pterygoid canal)
branches of distribution (greater palatine, lesser palatine, nasopalatine, pharyngeal)
V3: mandibular: meningeal - medial pterygoid - anterior (masseteric, deep temporal, buccal, lateral pterygoid)
posterior (auriculotemporal, lingual, inferior alveolar, mylohyoid, mental) - otic ganglion - submandibular ganglion