Oral Surgery, Oral Medicine, Oral Pathology, Oral Radiology, and Endodontology
Oral and maxillofacial radiologyAccessory mental foramen assessment using cone-beam computed tomography
Section snippets
Subjects
Data from CBCT examinations of 157 (48 males and 109 females) of a total of 160 patients who had undergone dental implant treatment planning from April 2007 to December 2007 were retrospectively analyzed. Three patients with postsurgical mandibular fracture or receiving repositioning of the inferior alveolar nerve were excluded. The mean age was 51.5 years (range: 17 to 77 years, SD: 14.9 years).
CBCT images
A CBCT unit, Alphard VEGA (Asahi Roentgen Ind., Co., Kyoto, Japan), with a flat-panel detector was
Statistical Analysis
Gender differences were evaluated using chi-square statistics. Also, when the mental foramen accompanies the accessory mental foramen, the size of the mental foramen might be smaller than that in its absence. So, differences between the sizes of the mental foramina with and without an accessory mental foramen were evaluated using the Mann-Whitney U test. Differences were considered significant at P less than .01.
Results
One mandibular canal was observed on each side in all 157 patients. The accessory foramen was observed in 11 (7%) (3 males and 8 females) of the 157 patients, and on 13 sides (Fig. 3). There was no significant gender difference. Also, the accessory mental foramen was observed on both sides in 2 patients. One accessory mental foramen on each side was observed on 11 sides and 2 accessory foramina on 2 sides: 6 left and 9 right sides.
The mean area of the 15 accessory mental foramina was 1.7 mm2
Discussion
Multiple mental foramina have only been reported,9 and not evaluated using CT and CBCT images. The resolution obtained on CBCT images was reportedly higher than that on helical CT images.11 Also, effective radiation doses with small exposure volume were lower in comparison with those for helical CT.12, 13
The frequencies of multiple mental foramina were high in central Asians and sub-Saharan Africans in previous microscopic observations.7 The occurrence of multiple mental foramina in Japanese
Conclusion
The accessory mental foramen, which shows continuity with the mandibular canal, could be observed in 7% of the subjects using CBCT.
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