Abstract
Background: The mental foramen is an important anatomical land mark, which is helpful in performing different types of surgical procedures & giving local anesthetics for various types of oral as well as maxillofacial surgeries. The understanding about the anatomy of this region is very helpful in performing effective nerve blocks & avoiding injuries to the neurovascular bundles. Therefore, we study about the anatomical location, directions of exit, size & shape of the mental foramen of the mandible in the population of Bihar & compare it with the findings of the different studies.
Materials & Methods: The present study is a cross sectional study which has been carried out on 140 dried fully ossified dentulous adult human mandibles (280 sides). The age & gender of the bones used in the study was not predetermined.
Result: The most common shape of mental foramen recorded in the present study was round shaped (59.29%). The commonest way of it’s exit was in the postero superior direction (93.21%) in both the sides. Mean transverse diameter were 3.34 mm on right side & 3.56 mm on left side whereas mean vertical diameter were 2.94 mm and 3.24 mm for right and left side respectively. The most frequent position of foramen in relation to the lower teeth were below the apex of 2nd premolar on both the right (36.79%) as well as the left (37.5%) side. The distance between the mental foramen & symphysis menti were 29.01±1.24 mm on the right side & 28.84±1.12 mm on the left side. The distance between the mental foramen & posterior border of ramus were 72.23±1.28 mm on the right side & 79.61±1.76 mm on the left side. While, the results of the measurement between the mental foramen & alveolar crest were 17.54±1.83 mm on the right side & 17.74±1.36 mm on the left side and between the mental foramen & inferior border of body of the mandible were 17.1±1.43 mm & 17.51±1.25 mm on the right & the left side respectively.
Conclusion: This study provides the necessary data regarding the mental foramen location and its morphometry which may be helpful for the dental surgeons in avoiding injuries of the mental nerve while doing different types of surgeries around this region.
Keywords: Mental Foramen, Morphometry, Mental Anaesthesia, Mandible.
References
- Standring S, Collins P, Healy JC, Wigley C, Beale TJ. Mandible: Infratemporal and pterygopalatine fossae and temperoma-ndibular joint. Grey’s Anatomy-The Anatomical Basis of Clinical Practice, Fortieth edition. Churchill Livingstone, Elsevier. 2008: 530-532.
- Nkenke E, Schultze-Mosgau S, Radespiel-Tröger M, Kloss F, Neukam FW. Morbidity of harvesting of chin grafts: a prospective study. Clin Oral Implants Res 2001;12:495-502.
- Raghoebar GM, Louwerse C, Kalk WW, Vissink A. Morbidity of chin bone harvesting. Clin Oral Implants Res 2001;12:503-7.
- Sbordone L, Menchini Fabris GB, Toti P, Sbordone C, Califano L, Guidetti F. Clinical survey of neurosensory side-effects of mandibular parasymphyseal bone harvesting. Int J Oral Maxillofac Surg 2009;38:139-45.
- Balcioglu HA, Kocaelli H. Accessory mental foramen. North Am J Med Sci 2009;1:314-5.
- Sankar DK, Bhanu SP, Susan PJ. Morphometrical and morphological study of mental foramen in dry dentulous mandibles of South Andhra population of India. Indian J Dent Res 2011;22:542-6.
- Singh SK, Gopinathan K, Bhall U, Chhabra S. Variations in the position and number of mental foramen in mandibles of North Indian population. J Anat Soc Ind 1992;41:47-51.
- Zagrafos J, Mutzuri A. Incidence of double mental foramen in a sample of Greek population. Odontostomatology 1989;43:521-3.
- Rajkohila J, Daniel P, Ambikaipakan S, Rabi S. Morphological and morphometric analysis of accessory mental foramen in dry human mandibles of south Indian population. Indian J Dent Res 2018;29:56-60.
- Singh R, Srivastav A K. Study of position, shape, size and incidence of mental foramen and accessory mental foramen in Indian adult human skulls. Int J Morphol 2010;28:1141‑
- Udhaya K, Saraladevi KV, Sridhar J. The morphometric analysis of the mental foramen in adult dry human mandibles: A study on the South Indian population. J Clin Diagn Res 2013;7:1547‑
- Voljevica A, Talovic E, Hasanovic A. Morphological and morphometric analysis of the shape, position, number and size of mental foramen on human mandibles. Acta Med Acad 2015;44: 31‑
- De Freitas V, Madeira MC, Toledo Filho JL, Chagas CF. Absence of the mental foramen in dry human mandibles. Acta Anat1979; 104:353-5.
- M Janardhan Rao, S Saritha. A study on the morphometric Analysis of the mental foramen in south indian dry Adult human mandibles. Int J Anat Res 2017;5(4.2):4590-94.
- Nimje DA, Wankhede HA, Hosmani PB. Morphometric study of the mental foramen in dry adult human mandibles. Int J Rec Trends Sci Technol 2014;12:47-9.
- Wang TM, Shih C, Liu JC, Kuo KJ. A clinical and anatomical study of the location of the mental foramen in adult Chinese mandible. Acta Anat 1986;126:29-33.
- Haghanifar S, Rokouei M. Radiographic evaluation of the mental foramen in a selected Iranian population. Indian J Dent Res 2009; 20:150-2.
- Santini A, Land M. A comparison of the position of the mental foramen in Chinese and British mandibles. Acta Anat 1990;137: 208-12.
- Al Jasser NM, Nwoku AL. Radiographic study of the mental foramen in a selected Saudi population. Dentomaxillofacial Radiol 1998;27:341-3.
- Kekere Ekun TA. Antero posterior location of the mental foramen in Nigerians. Afr Dent J 1989;3:2-8.
- Mwaniki DL, Hassanali J. The position of mandibular and mental foramina in Kenyan African mandibles. East Afr Med J 1992;69: 210-3.
Corresponding Author
Avanish Kumar
Additional Professor, Department of Anatomy, Indira Gandhi Institute of Medical Sciences, Patna, Bihar.
Email: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.