Prevalence of three-rooted mandibular first molars among Taiwanese individuals

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the prevalence of mandibular first molars featuring a distolingual root among a Taiwanese population. A total of 731 patients' periapical radiographs were screened and examined to obtain 166 samples for this study. The gender, symmetry, and frequencies of occurrence of three-rooted mandibular first molars were recorded. The prevalence of three-rooted mandibular first molars was 21.09%. The bilateral incidence of a symmetrical distribution was 68.57%. There was a significantly greater incidence of three-rooted teeth on the right side of the mandible than on the left, but gender did not show a significant relationship with this variant prevalence. Clinicians should be aware of the high racial prevalence of the distolingual root in mandibular first molars among the Taiwanese (Chinese) population before initiating endodontic treatment.