Paroxysmal lacrimation during mastication occurs due to damage to

Paroxysmal lacrimation (crocodile tears) is seen in patients exhibiting profuse lacrimation when food is eaten, particularly hot and spicy foods. It generally follows facial paralysis, either Bell's palsy type or the result of herpes zoster, head injury or intracraniaL operative trauma. This is thought to be due to the degeneration of autonomic nerve, when adjacent normal autonomic fibers will give sprouts that connect up with appropriate cholinergic or adrenergic endings, resulting in crocodile tears.