Morphometric Analysis of the Mental Foramen Variation in an Iraqi Population by Using Cone-Beam Computed Tomography

The effects of gender, side, and ridge condition on the position of the mental foramen (MF) were investigated in this research. A total of 122 cone-beam computed tomography scans were chosen from healthy patients with age ranging from 18 to 72 years. The following parameters were used to evaluate images: MS-MF (horizontal distance to the mandibular symphysis from the anterior MF limit) and MB-MF (vertical measurement of distance from the inferior boundary of the mandible to the lower border of the MF). The mean distance between the MF and mandibular symphysis was 20.98 ± 1.95. The average measurement between the MF and the mandible's lower boundary was 10.36 ± 1.63. The horizontal distance was slightly different between males and females (21.5 ± 1.59 and 20.6 ± 1.6, respectively). In terms of gender and ridge condition, a significant difference in vertical distance (10.97 ± 1.14 versus 9.9 ± 1.24 and 10.13 ± 1.5 versus 10.55 ± 1.07, respectively) was observed. By contrast, in vertical and horizontal distances, significant differences were noted between edentulous men and women. Meanwhile, a significant difference between dentate male and female patients was found at vertical distances only. In conclusion, in both vertical and horizontal measurements, the location of the MF was higher in males than in females and edentulous more than dentate.