Root and root canal morphology of the human permanent maxillary first molar: a literature review

The objective of this study was to review the literature with respect to the root and canal systems in the maxillary first molar. Root anatomy studies were divided into laboratory studies (in vitro), clinical root canal system anatomy studies (in vivo) and clinical case reports of anomalies. Over 95% (95.9%) of maxillary first molars had three roots and 3.9% had two roots. The incidence of fusion of any two or three roots was approximately 5.2%. Conical and C-shaped roots and canals were rarely found (0.12%). This review contained the most data on the canal morphology of the mesiobuccal root with a total of 8399 teeth from 34 studies. The incidence of two canals in the mesiobuccal root was 56.8% and of one canal was 43.1% in a weighted average of all reported studies. The incidence of two canals in the mesiobuccal root was higher in laboratory studies (60.5%) compared to clinical studies (54.7%). Less variation was found in the distobuccal and palatal roots and the results were reported from fourteen studies consisting of 2576 teeth. One canal was found in the distobuccal root in 98.3% of teeth whereas the palatal root had one canal in over 99% of the teeth studied.