Assessment of morphological and anatomical characteristics of mental foramen using cone beam computed tomography

To determine the shape, position, vertical height, surrounding bone characteristics, and opening angle of mental foramen (MF) using dental cone beam computed tomography (CBCT).

A retrospective study was performed on 663 patients. CBCT records analyzed for the shape, position, and surrounding bone measurements of the MF using Simplant 3D software (Hasselt, Belgium). Opening angle of MF was also assessed. Kruskal-Wallis and Mann-Whitney U tests were employed to test significant differences between parameters, genders and ages.

All mental foramina were visualized. Regarding location, 49.2% of the MFs were located between first and second premolars, 7.7 distal and 39.7% coincident to the apex of the mandibular second premolar. The mean MF opening angle was 45.4° on the right side, and 45.9° on the left. There were no statistically differences between gender groups with regard to the opening angle degrees.

This study may provide useful information about variations in the position, shape and size, angle of mental foramen, which may help the practitioners to perform safer mental nerve blocks and surgical procedures.