Evaluation of Mental Foramen in U. P. Population- A CBCT Study

Mental foramen (MF) is one of, the common sites for any form of iatrogenic injury either during achieving anesthesia or during surgery. Extraction of root tips of premolars and molars and placement of Implants in mandibular premolar region are the most complicated surgical procedures due to potential inadvertent complications of neuro-sensory alterations in the chin and lower lip. Chances of injury rises further if mental foramen is not properly identified and protected [1]. Possibility of these insults further increases with variable anatomy of the mandible in position, course of neurovascular bundles passing through mandibular canal and type of emergence through mental foramen [2]. Variation in its location and accessory foramen sometimes leads to misdiagnosis of some pathology. Mental nerve and associated blood vessels pass through this foramen. Previously researchers also showed keen interest in finding the anatomical variation of mental foramen but this issue particularly gain importance due to advanced dental rehabilitation surgeries and also due to more accurate three dimensional diagnostic images (CBCT images) [ 2-4]. Implant placement is one of those dental rehabilitation procedures whose prognosis needs precise knowledge of anatomical variations [5]. MF is located in anterolateral aspect of mandible at an approximately equal distance (1315 mm) from the superior and inferior border of the mandible [6]. Racial differences between different nations play an important role in human anatomic variations of mental foramen in its number (AF) location (L) and emergence of mental nerve (ET) [7,8].