Anatomical variation in the dimension of nasopalatine canal on Cone Beam Computed Tomography CBCT images among sulaimani population

Abstract

Objective: This study was conducted to find anatomical variation of nasopalatine canal (NPC) and nasopalatine foramen (NPF) in different age and gender groups among Sulaimani population on cone beam computed tomography (CBCT) images. Subjects and Methods: The study included one hundred CBCT images obtained from patients visiting privet clinics with specialty in dental and maxillofacial radiology in Sulaimani city extended from 2014 to 2016. Subjects were divided into three age groups (18-34, 35-49, 50-75) years old. First group included 15 males and 15 females, second group 20 males and 20 females, and the third group included 15 males with 15 females. PaX i vatech digital CBCT machine, were used to obtain the images by the radiographers. The following measurements were estimated; number of openings of NPC at nasal fossa, mesio-lateral diameter 0f NPF at nasal fossa (axial section), mesio-lateral diameter of NPF at palatine fossa, antero-posterior dimension of NPC at: its upper boarder; middle level, and lower boarder, and lastly the height of NPC in sagittal section. Results: 100 subjects (50 males and 50 females) with age range 31 year were included in this study. 69% had single NPF at the nasal fossa. 23% had two openings and 8% had three openings. Mean and standard deviation (SD) of mesio-lateral diameter of NPF at nasal fossa, and palatine fossa were 2.60±0.69 mm, and 4.11±2.09 mm respectively. NPF diameter at the palatine fossa showed significant differences between genders (P value less than 0.05). But age group differences did not reach the significant level (P value more than 0.05). The means and SD of antero-posterior dimension of NPC was 3.46±1.53 mm. There were no significant difference between genders and among age groups concerning this dimension (P value was greater than 0.05). Mean and SD of height of NPC was 13.14±3.11 mm. Males demonstrated significantly greater length of NPC than females (P value was less than 0.05). Conclusion: It is concluded that there is anatomical variation in morphology and various parameters of NPC among sulaimani population. This should be considered in preoperative planning and to reduce the number of complications in implant and other maxillofacial surgeries in anterior palatine area. CBCT has important role to obtain accurate measurements of NPC different dimensions which has importance to differentiate between normal and abnormal NPC.