Root and Canal Morphology of Maxillary First Premolar Teeth in a Ugandan Population

Charles Mugisha Rwenyonyi,Louis Muwazi,William Buwembo,Annet Kutesa

doi:10.4236/ojst.2011.11002

Abstract

Aim : To determine the variations in the root and canal morphology of the maxillary first premolar teeth in a Ugandan population. Methodology : Extracted maxillary first premolar teeth (n = 202) were evaluated in this study. The specimens had their pulp chambers de-roofed. They were decalcified in nitric acid and made transparent with methyl salicylate. Indian ink was injected into the root canals to display their configuration. Results : One hundred and forty eight (73.3%) of the specimens had two roots, of which 16.9% (n = 25) had fused roots. About 26.7% (n = 54) of the specimens were single rooted. Eleven (20.4%) of the single rooted specimens had one canal of either Vertucci type I, III, V or VII configuration while 79.6% (n = 43) of the specimens had two canals of either Vertucci type II, IV or VI configuration. The two-rooted specimens exhibited Vertucci type IV and VIII canal configuration: 96.6% and 3.4%, respectively. The single rooted teeth had a higher prevalence of lateral canals, canal intercommunications and multiple apical foramina as compared to the two-rooted specimens. Conclusion : The maxillary first premolar teeth in this Ugandan population showed a higher prevalence of two-root morphology with majority of the roots having Vertucci type IV canal configuration. There was no three-root anomaly recorded in the present material.

Highlights

Anatomical variations of teeth need to be considered in clinical and radiographic evaluations during endodontic treatment [1]
The canal morphology of the maxillary first premolar teeth has been reported with varying prevalence rates: one canal, 0% to 26.2%; two canals, 73.3% to 97% and three canals, 0.5% to 9.2% [3,4,5,8,9,10,11,12,13,14] (Table 2)
The specimens were placed in a 5% sodium hypochlorite solution (Ameya Chemicals, Mumbai, India) and periodically agitated for 24 h to dissolve the organic tissue from the root surface and the root canal system

Summary

Introduction

Anatomical variations of teeth need to be considered in clinical and radiographic evaluations during endodontic treatment [1]. The canal morphology of the maxillary first premolar teeth has been reported with varying prevalence rates: one canal, 0% to 26.2%; two canals, 73.3% to 97% and three canals, 0.5% to 9.2% [3,4,5,8,9,10,11,12,13,14] (Table 2). The majority of these studies were carried out in teeth from populations of Caucasian [4,5,6,8,9,12,14] and Asian origins [2,7,10]. The purpose of this study was to assess the root and canal morphology of maxillary first premolar teeth from a Ugandan population using the clearing technique

Objectives

Methods

Results

Conclusion