Following extraction of tooth #17 the patient returns with pain in the gingiva at the extraction site. Which peripheral nerve carries this sensation?

Correct answer: C. The long buccal nerve

• A. The inferior alveolar nerve supplies the teeth and, via the mental branch, the labial gingiva anterior to the mental foramen. It does not supply the buccal gingiva of the molars.
• B. The mylohyoid nerve is chiefly motor to the mylohyoid and the anterior belly of digastric, with a variable sensory twig to the chin skin.
• C. CORRECT. The LONG BUCCAL nerve, a branch of the anterior division of V3, supplies the BUCCAL soft tissue and gingiva adjacent to the mandibular molars. This is why a standard IAN block alone leaves the buccal gingiva of the molars sensate and why a separate long buccal infiltration is needed for surgery in that region.
• D. The lingual nerve supplies the LINGUAL gingiva, the floor of the mouth and the anterior two-thirds of the tongue — the opposite side of the ridge.

Note: The territories in the mandible: teeth and body from the IAN, buccal molar gingiva from the long buccal, lingual gingiva and tongue from the lingual, and labial gingiva anterior to the mental foramen from the mental and incisive branches. Complete anaesthesia for a mandibular third molar takes an IAN block plus a lingual block plus a long buccal infiltration.