CONE BEAM COMPUTED TOMOGRAPHY VS PANORAMIC RADIOGRAPHY FOR THE ASSESSMENT OF MENTAL FORAMEN

Abstract

Background: One of the crucial inferior alveolar nerve blocks, the mental nerve is where the mental foramen, anterior loop of the mental foramen, and radiographic dimensional distortion are discovered. By using panoramic radiography and cone beam computed tomography, the aim was to evaluate the size distortion vs the presence of the mental foramen with the anterior loop of the mental nerve (CBCT).

Materials and methods: The anterior loop and mental and auxiliary mental foramina radiographs of 80 individuals were studied. Measurements were made of the mental foramen's diameters, its upper border's distance from the second premolar root, its lower border's distance from the inferior mandibular border, and its anterior border's distance from the anterior border of the anterior loop. Comparing the distances acquired from the two imaging modalities using a paired t test (P<0.05).

Results: On a panoramic radiograph, the mental foramen, auxiliary mental foramina, and anterior loop of the mental foramen were visible in 90%, 1.38%, and 65.27% of cases, respectively. On a computed tomography scan, they were visible in 100%, 3.75%, and 88.75% of cases. With the exception of the distance from the upper border of the mental foramen to the second premolar root, all measurements obtained using the panoramic approach were much lower than those obtained using the CBCT.

Conclusion: It was important to notice that three detected anatomical components were more challenging to distinguish in panoramic radiographs than they were in CBCT. Additionally, dimensional distortion in linear measurements was represented by the panoramic approach more so than CBCT.