[The types of the mandibular canal]

The purpose of the present study was to determine after studying 700 panoramic radiographs, the incidence of the various types of the mandibular canal and their relationship to sex. Our results indicate that in descending order of frequency of occurrence type III (the canal is located close to the lower border of the mandible) is the most common, followed by the type II (the canal is noted between the apices of the first and second molars and the lower border of the mandible) and the type I (the canal is in close contact with the apices of the first and the second molars). Only three cases showed bifid mandibular canal. There was no statistical significance between sex and types of the mandibular canal. There was topographical difference between the left and the right side in 19.86% of the cases.