the prevalence of bilateral three-rooted mandibular first molar in indian population

introduction : the purpose of the present study was to evaluate the prevalence of bilateral three-rooted mandibular first and second molars in indian population. materials and methods: a total of 215 patients were screened bilaterally for mandibular first and second molar and 430 samples of periapical radiographs were obtained. the gender, symmetry, and prevalence of three-rooted mandibular first and second molars were recorded. the correlation between left and right side occurrences and distribution were recorded and analysed using z-test. results: the results showed that 33 teeth had three-rooted mandibular first molars, 16 male and 17 female ( p =0.442). overall, 21 teeth of right jaw and 12 teeth of left jaw ( p =0.103) showed presence of an extra-root. the prevalence of three-rooted mandibular first molars was 7.67% and second molar was 0.23%. the bilateral frequency distribution was 3.72% for the first molar. there was no statistically significant difference between right side and left side mandibular molars. also, gender did not show a significant relationship with this variant. conclusion: the endodontic treatments of first mandibular molars require a careful clinical approach in indian population as a high racial prevalence of 7.67% three-rooted molars was found. however, in the same population, 0.23% mandibular second molars had three roots.