Nerve to mylohyoid

The nerve to mylohyoid or mylohyoid nerve is a motor branch of the inferior alveolar nerve, a branch of the mandibular division of the trigeminal nerve.

Gross anatomy

The nerve to mylohyoid arises from the inferior alveolar nerve just before it enters the mandibular foramen. It does not enter the foramen, rather it pierces the sphenomandibular ligament and runs anteroinferiorly in the mylohyoid groove of the mandible with its accompanying vessels, lateral to the medial pterygoid muscle. It courses under the mylohyoid muscle and then between it and the anterior belly of digastric above, supplying both these muscles.