An anatomical study of mandibular bone: measurements and surgical relevance of mandibular and mental foramina in human skulls

Abstract

The mandible is prone to fractures caused by a wide variety of trauma, and is commonly fractured at the body, condyle, angle, and symphysis respectively. Mandibular fractures pose a great health risk due to the high possibility of injury to the mental neurovascular and inferior alveolar neurovascular bundles as they pass through their associated canals in the mandible. Since the location of mandibular and mental foramina and related structures are critical for the assessment of injury, our objective was to provide morphometric measurements of the mandibular structures. Thus, in 34 mandibular bones, on left (L) and right (R) sides, we measured the distances in millimeters between mandibular foramen and condyle (L: 37.59±0.62, R: 37.19± 0.6), mandibular foramen and angle (L: 21.97 ±0.66, R: 22.91±0.78), mental foramen to mental protuberance (L: 25.88±0.37, R: 26.22±) mental foramen to angle (L: 55.09±0.69 R: 53.08± 0.80) mental foramen to lower jawline (L: 12.19±0.27, R: 12.42±0.31) mental foremen and alveoli (L: 12.87±0.38 R: 13.20±0.43), circumference of the head of condyle (L: 46.26±0.74 R: 45.89±0.86), circumference of neck of condyle (L: 31.91±0.56 R: 32.46±0.65), thickness of angle of mandible (L: 5.19±0.20 R: 5.21±0.14) and thickness of mental protuberance (12.92±0.24).This study provides morphometric measurements for the surgery of the mandible and related structures.