“ANATOMICAL CHARACTERISTICS AND VARIATIONS OF LINGUAL FORAMINA AND CANALS USING CONE BEAM COMPUTED TOMOGRAPHY” ABSTRACT Objective

“ANATOMICAL CHARACTERISTICS AND VARIATIONS OF LINGUAL FORAMINA AND CANALS USING CONE BEAM COMPUTED TOMOGRAPHY”
ABSTRACT
Objective: To determine the anatomical characteristics of mandibular lingual foramina (LF) and canals and its variations using cone?beam computed tomography (CBCT).
Methods: Cross-sectional retrospective study involved 55 CBCT images (20 males and 35 females). The number and location, length, distance from alveolar crest and inferior border of the mandible, and anatomical variations of course of lingual canals were assessed. The data obtained was analyzed statistically using t?test and chi square test. Statistical significance was set at 0.05.
Results and discussion: 98.18% shows LF, majority (63.85%) were superior with the number varies from 0 to 4. 53.70% cases showed single canals. The distance from superior and the inferior LF to the alveolar crest was 16.24 ± 2.82 mm and 25.49 ± 2.43 mm, respectively. The mean length of the superior canal and inferior canal was 5.81 ± 1.6 mm and 4.25 ± 1.2 mm respectively. Gender?related differences was not there except for the distance from the superior foramina to the alveolar crest and was significantly greater in males than females. (p: