ABSTRACT

Background: Many anatomical variations such as anterior looping, accessory canals of the inferior alveolar nerve are known to exist in the mandible. Such variations are evident with the radiographic examination of mandible using Cone Beam Computed Tomography (CBCT). Complications such as bleeding intra – operatively and paraesthesia post – operatively could be effectively prevented by careful pre – surgical analysis of the scan volumes acquired. This study aims to analyse the prevalence of accessory canals of the inferior alveolar nerve using CBCT. Materials and Methods: This retrospective study was done using 250 CBCT scan volumes taken between August 2018 and August 2019 on patients for the various diagnostic purposes. All volumes were acquired using Sirona Orthophos machine with a Field of View of 8 x 8 cm. All CBCT volumes were viewed using Galileos viewer software. The scans were analysed for the presence and location of accessory canals exiting the buccal and lingual cortical plates of the mandible. Results: Of the 250 scan volumes, 75 cases did not have accessory canals. The numbers of canals observed were grouped into 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5. Single canals were observed in maximum number of patients and 5 canals were observed in only one patient. All canals were observed to be inferior to the level of mental foramen. Conclusion: The presence of accessory canals is found to be quite common (about 70%) in the samples analysed for this study. CBCT provides high resolution images that can be examined in all three planes for better localization of such anatomical variations. Keywords: CBCT imaging, Accessory canals, Inferior alveolar nerve, Complications, Implant planning
Publication date: 01/11/2020

https://ijbpas.com/pdf/2020/November/MS_IJBPAS_2020_5324.pdf

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https://doi.org/10.31032/IJBPAS/2020/9.11.5324