A Morphometric and Morphological Study of mandibular lingula and its Clinical Significance

Abstract

Aim : Mandibular lingula is a bony projection located o n the medial aspect of its ramus. It is very closel y related to the mandibular foramen and inferior alveolar nerve and vessels. The aim of the present study is to observe the different shapes, position and height of the lingula in relat ion to the mandible. Materials and Methods : The study was conducted on 50 adult dry human mandibles (100 sides) in the Department of Anatomy, Sri Ramachandra Medical College & Research Institute, Chennai. The different shapes o f lingula were observed and position and height of lingula in relation to mandible were measured using vernier callipers. Results: The most frequent shape of the lingula observed in our study was triangular (49%) followed by nodular (23%), tru ncated (18%) and assimilated (10%) types. The lingula was located at a mean distance of 17.11 ± 2.32 mm and 14.86 ± 2.54 from the anterior and posterior border of ramus of mandible. The mean distance from the lingula to mandibular notch was 18.71 ± 3.18 mm and to the mandibular notch was 30.30 ± 5.11 mm. The mean height of the lingula was 7.45 ± 1.48 mm. Conclusion: The lingula is a very important landmark where mandibular foramen has to be identified in procedur es such as inferior alveolar nerve block ,bilateral sagittal split ramus osteotomy and intraoral vertical split ramus osteot omy and for excision of nerve in facial neuralgia.