## 4 Discussion
\begin{table}
\begin{tabular}{c c c c c c c c c c c c} \hline \hline  & \multicolumn{6}{c}{**Right Side**} & \multicolumn{6}{c}{**Left Side**} \\ \cline{2-13}
**One-Way ANOVA Test** & \multicolumn{2}{c}{\begin{tabular}{c} **Position According** \\ **to Teeth** \\ \end{tabular} } & \multicolumn{2}{c}{\begin{tabular}{c} **Position According** \\ **to Dental Apices** \\ \end{tabular} } & \multicolumn{2}{c}{\begin{tabular}{c} **Position According** \\ **to Teeth** \\ \end{tabular} } & \multicolumn{2}{c}{\
\begin{tabular}{c} **Position According** \\ **to Teeth** \\ \end{tabular} } & \multicolumn{2}{c}{
\begin{tabular}{c} **Position According** \\ **to Dental Apices** \\ \end{tabular} } \\ \cline{2-13}  & F & \(p\) & \(\eta^{2}\) & F & \(p\) & \(\eta^{2}\) & F & \(p\) & \(\eta^{2}\) & F & \(p\) & \(\eta^{2}\) \\ \hline Distance from inferior & 0.165 & 0.955 & 0.014 & 1.630 & 0.207 & 0.065 & 0.641 & 0.636 & 0.054 & 0.920 & 0.406 & 0.038 \\ \hline Distance from superior & 0.208 & 0.933 & 0.018 & 1.699 & 0.194 & 0.067 & 1.339 & 0.270 & 0.106 & 0.606 & 0.550 & 0.025 \\ \hline Width & 1.055 & 0.398 & 0.107 & 0.671 & 0.516 & 0.028 & 1.076 & 0.387 & 0.109 & 0.046 & 0.955 & 0.002 \\ \hline Height & 2.007 & 0.096 & 0.186 & 0.007 & 0.993 & 0.000 & 1.918 & 0.111 & 0.179 & 0.314 & 0.732 & 0.013 \\ \hline Depth & 1.008 & 0.424 & 0.103 & 1.460 & 0.243 & 0.058 & 3.349 & 0.012 & 0.276 & 0.398 & 0.674 & 0.017 \\ \hline Distance from inferior & 0.639 & 0.671 & 0.068 & 1.609 & 0.211 & 0.064 & 0.591 & 0.707 & 0.063 & 1.425 & 0.251 & 0.057 \\ \hline Distance from superior & 1.359 & 0.258 & 0.134 & 0.108 & 0.898 & 0.005 & 0.637 & 0.673 & 0.068 & 0.144 & 0.867 & 0.006 \\ \hline \hline \end{tabular}
\end{table} 
Table 7: _Cont._Second, in females, a significant positive correlation was found between the depth of the mental foramen and the distance from the inferior mandibular edge. This correlation indicates that as the depth of the mental foramen increases, the distance from the inferior mandibular edge also increases. This knowledge is beneficial for predicting the mental foramen's position along the inferior mandibular edge in female patients. The MF is an important reference point, as it hosts the mental nerve that can be injured in several surgical and dental procedures [1]; consequent sensory impairment has a strong effect on the patient's life. Moreover, finding the MF is crucial for mental nerve block anesthesia [6]. Therefore, the literature has widely explored its size through the assessment of the height, width and depth and its position according to surrounding structures, namely, dental elements and mandibular edges, usually through the analysis of CBCT. CBCT is a low-dose scanning system [18] and is specifically developed for the visualization of teeth and jaws [19]: therefore, it represents the gold standard for the assessment of the anatomical characteristics of the MF [1]. In the literature, several articles have analyzed the different metrical parameters that are useful for the anatomical assessment of the MF [1, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12], especially for what concerns the MF size (height and width). For example, [PERSON] et al. and [PERSON] et al. already reported that both MF diameters are higher in males compared to females [1, 9], and similar results were found by [PERSON] et al., this last case only concerning the height of the MF [20]. Moreover, [PERSON] et al. found that the distance of the MF from both the upper and lower edges of the mandible is higher in males than in females [9]. For what concerns the position of the MF according to teeth, our study showed that the most common position is between the first and second premolar (position III), followed by the position at the level of the second premolar (position IV).