EVALUATION OF ROOT AND CANAL MORPHOLOGY OF MAXILLARY PERMANENT PREMOLARS IN AN EGYPTIAN POPULATION BY CONE-BEAM COMPUTED TOMOGRAPHY

Introduction: The purpose of this study was to evaluate the number of roots and canal morphology of maxillary permanent premolars in Egyptian population. Methods: seven hundred and eighteen cases were included in this study. Digitized images from cone-beam computed tomography were assessed by 2 endodontists. Number of roots and canals configuration according to Vertucci were tabulated. Results:Most of maxillary first premolars showed two-root configuration, while most of maxillary second premolars showed single root configuration. For maxillary first premolar ,The most common Vertucci classifications for the single root were type II (62.6%) and III (12.6%). While the most common Vertucciclassifications for single rooted maxillary second premolar were I (44%) followed by II (29.8%) and III (17.9%) Conclusions: Under the condition of this study, the root canal configurations of an Egyptian population showed that most maxillary first premolars were two-rooted with 2 root canals, whereas maxillary second premolars tended to be single-rooted with one or two root canals more or less equally distributed. In vivo CBCT imaging is a clinically effective tool for providing comprehensive information about the root canal morphology of various teeth.