A Morphological Study of Mental Foramen in Human Mandibles

Introduction: The mental foramen is a funnel like opening located bilaterally on the anterolateral surface of the body of the mandible which transmits mental nerve and vessels. Any foramen which is in addition to MF is considered as an Accessory Mental Foramen (AMF). This accessory mental foramen may transmit the branches of the mental nerve Materials and Methods: The 150 dry human mandibles of unknow age and sex were used for this study and examined for shape and position of mental foramen in relation to the mandibular teeth. Incidence of accessory mental foramen was also studied. Results: In present study we observed that the oval shape of mental foramen was 77.3 % on right side and 79.3 % on left. The location of mental foramen was found 58.6 % in the line with the longitudinal axis of the second molar teeth on right side, on left side 57.3 %. Incidence of accessory mental foramen is found on right side in 9 mandibles 6 % and on left side in 2 mandibles 1.33 %. Conclusion: The precise knowledge on the variations in the shape, position of the mental foramen and the presence of the accessory mental foramen would be of much use for dental surgeons while they do surgical procedures on the mandible, such as the curettage of the premolars, filling procedures, dental implants, root canal treatments, orthognathic surgeries.