Prevalence and Morphological Assessment of Bifid Mandibular Canal Using Cone Beam Computed Tomography among a Group of Yemeni Adults

Abstract

The variations of MC such as BMC play a significant role in performing the surgical procedures in the posterior mandible. The study aimed to assess the prevalence of BMC using CBCT images. The presence and type of BMC were evaluated among 400 CBCT images based on the classification of Naitoh et al. (2009). Prevalence rate of BMC was also determined according to gender. Further, the diameter and length of BMCs were measured using Ez3D plus software. Chi-square analysis and the analysis of variance (One-Way ANOVA) were used. The study resulted that BMCs were found in 60(15%) of the total cases. There was no significant correlation between gender and BMC prevalence. The forward BMC was the most common type (48.3%), followed by retromolar BMC (35.0%) then dental BMC (16.7%); while not even one case of the buccolingual BMC was observed. Moreover, the mean diameter of the BMC was 2.08±047mm. The mean diameter of forward, dental, and retromolar BMCs were 2.17±0.47mm, 2.29±0.48mm and 1.85±0.38mm, respectively. There was a significant difference in the mean diameter of BMC (p-value = 0.016). The mean length of BMC was 13.3±10.66mm, whereas the mean length of forward, dental, and retromolar BMCs were 18.30±13.23mm, 8.46 ± 2.05mm and 8.25 ± 2.26mm, respectively. There was a significant difference in the mean length of BMC (p=0.001). The prevalence of BMCs in the Yemeni adults is a relatively high, and the forward BMC the most common type. Detecting BMCs by using CBCT imaging is highly recommended prior to any mandibular surgery.