The submandibular ganglion is small and fusiform in shape.

The submandibular ganglion is suspended by two nerve filaments from the lingual nerve.

The fibers of the chorda tympani travel with the lingual nerve to the submandibular ganglion.

The submandibular ganglion (or submaxillary ganglion in older texts) is part of the human autonomic nervous system.

(The others are the submandibular ganglion, pterygopalatine ganglion, and ciliary ganglion).

The chorda tympani nerve (from the facial nerve via the submandibular ganglion) is secretomotor to the sublingual glands.

The submandibular ganglion is responsible for innervation of two salivary glands: the submandibular gland and sublingual gland.

This nerve exits the skull through the Petrotympanic fissure and merges with the lingual nerve, after which it synapses with neurons in the submandibular ganglion.

It is one of four parasympathetic ganglia of the head and neck, the others being the submandibular ganglion, otic ganglion, and ciliary ganglion.

After joining the lingual nerve, the preganglionic fibers synapse at the submandibular ganglion and send postganglionic fibers to the sublingual and submandibular salivary glands.

They are innervated by the seventh cranial nerve, more specifically via the submandibular ganglion, chorda tympani, and geniculate ganglion ascending to the solitary nucleus in the brainstem.

Parasympathetic ganglia, in contrast, are located in close proximity to the target organ: the submandibular ganglion close to salivary glands, paracardiac ganglia close to the heart, etc.

Meckel earned his medical doctorate from the University of Göttingen in 1748, where in his thesis Tractatus anatomico physiologicus de quinto pare nervorum cerebri he documented his discovery of the submandibular ganglion.

Preganglionic parasympathetic fibers are also distributed partly via the chorda tympani and lingual nerves to the submandibular ganglion, thence by postganglionic (vasodilator) fibers to the submandibular gland and sublingual gland.

Like other parasympathetic ganglia of the head and neck, the submandibular ganglion is the site of synapse for parasympathetic fibers and carries other types of nerve fiber that do not synapse in the ganglion.

The chorda tympani (a branch of the facial nerve, CN VII) joins it at an acute angle here, carrying taste fibers from the anterior two thirds of the tongue and parasympathetic fibers to the submandibular ganglion.

Parasympathetic innervation to the submandibular glands is provided by the superior salivatory nucleus via the chorda tympani, a branch of the facial nerve, that becomes part of the trigeminal nerve's lingual nerve prior to synapsing on the submandibular ganglion.

Presynaptic parasympathetic fibers to the submandibular ganglion, providing secretomotor innervation to two salivary glands: the submandibular gland and sublingual gland and to the vessels of the tongue, which when stimulated, cause a dilation of blood vessels of the tongue.

The parotid gland receives its parasympathetic input from the glossopharyngeal nerve (CN IX) via the otic ganglion, while the submandibular and sublingual glands receive their parasympathetic input from the facial nerve (CN VII) via the submandibular ganglion.