MORPHOMETRIC AND MORPHOLOGICAL STUDY OF HUMAN DRY MANDIBLE

Address for Correspondence: Shaik Hussain Saheb, Assistant Professor, Department of Anatomy, JJM Medical College, Davangere – 577004, Karnataka, India. Mobile no.: +91-9242056660. E-Mail: anatomyshs@gmail.com Background: Mental foramen is a small foramen situated in anterolateral aspect of the body of the mandible. Normally, mental foramen is located below the interval between the premolars. It transmits mental nerve, artery and vein. Mental nerve is a branch of inferior alveolar nerve which supplies sensation to lower lip and the labial mucosa and lower canines and premolars. The most useful injection for anaesthetizing the mandibular teeth is the inferior alveolar nerve block. To anaesthetize the anterior teeth, including the premolars and canines, it is possible to avoid giving inferior alveolar nerve block by injecting anesthetic solution adjacent to the mental foramen. Materials and Methods: Totally 300 mandibles were used for this study, from different medical teaching Institutes. The following measurements were measured and recorded. The results were expressed in the form of Mean ±SD. Results: The shape of foramen was oval in 72%. The knowledge of mental foramen is very important for blockage of mental nerve. The location of mental foramen was found 78.65% in line with the longitudinal axis of the second molar teeth, 13.52% was present in between first and second molar teeth. There was no significance difference between the mean distance between mental foramen and alveolar margin of right and left side. Conclusion: The knowledge about variation in size, shape and position of mental foramen may be helpful to the dental surgeons to achieve full anesthesia after nerve block. KEY WORD: Mental foramen, Symphysis menti, Nerve block, Anesthesia. BACKGROUND International Journal of Anatomy and Research, Int J Anat Res 2016, Vol 4(1):2037-40. ISSN 2321-4287 DOI: http://dx.doi. org/10.16965/ijar.2016. 140 Access this Article online Quick Response code Web site: Received: 08 Feb 2016 Accepted: 19 Feb 2016 Peer Review: 08 Feb 2016 Published (O): 29 Feb 2016 Revised: None Published (P): 29 Feb 2016 International Journal of Anatomy and Research ISSN 2321-4287 www.ijmhr. org/ijar.htm DOI: 10.16965/ijar.2016. 140 1 Associate Professor, Department of Anatomy, KVG Medical College and Hospital, Kurunjibag, Sullia, Karnataka, India. *2Assistant Professor, Department of Anatomy, JJM Medical College, Davangere, Karnataka, India. The mental foramen is defined as the entire funnel-like opening in the lateral surface of the mandible at the terminus of the mental canal. This foramen is contained entirely within the buccal cortical plate of bone. The average size of the foramen is 4.6 mm horizontally and3.4 mm vertically on the lateral surface of the mandible. The foramen is usually larger on the left side of the mandible. The mental foramen marks the termination of the mandibular canal in the mandible, through which the inferior alveolar nerve and vessels pass. At this point, the mandibular canal bifurcates and forms the mental and incisive canals. The mental bundle passes through the mental foramen and supplies sensory innervation and blood supply to the soft tissues of the chin, lower lip and gingiva on the ipsilateral side of the mandible [1-3]. Mental foramen transmits mental nerve and vessels providing sensory innervation and blood