Morphological and topographic evaluation of the mandibular canal and its relationship with the facial profile, skeletal class, and sex.

Abstract

The aim of this study was to evaluate the morphology and topography of the mandibular canal in patients with different facial profiles, skeletal classes, and sexes. Cone-beam computed tomography volumes of 103 patients were classified according to facial profile and skeletal class. Two examiners classified the mandibular canal into a linear, spoon-shaped, elliptical arc, or turning curvature and measured four related linear distances. The most frequent mandibular canal curvature was identified and multi-way ANOVA with Tukey's test compared the linear measurements between facial types, skeletal class, and sexes (α = 0.05). Kappa and intraclass correlation coefficients were used to assess the reproducibility of qualitative and quantitative variables, respectively. The examiners showed excellent reproducibility. The four curvatures of the mandibular canal were found, but the spoon-shaped and elliptical arch were the most frequent. No significant differences were observed for most of the linear measurements between the different facial profiles, skeletal classes, and sexes (p > 0.05). Spoon-shaped and elliptical arch are the most frequent curvatures of the mandibular canal; furthermore, its morphology and topography seem to be little influenced by the facial profile, skeletal class, and sex.