Skeletotopic features of the chin opening in animals

Abstract

The article presents the features in the skeletotopia of the mental foramen in different animal species (sheep, horse, dog). The research was conducted at the Department of Anatomy and Histology of Animals named after Prof. A.F. Klimov of the K.I. Skryabin Moscow State Automobile Academy of Veterinary Medicine and Biology. The object of the study was: sexually mature sheep (Ovis aries) (n=10), domestic horse (Equus caballus) (n=10) and dog (Canis lupus familiaris) (n=10). The material for the research was mandibles (n=30). A comprehensive methodological approach was used, including anatomical preparation and measurement of linear parameters (height of the mandibular body and distance from the chin aperture to the upper edge of the diastema) with subsequent digital processing of the results. Based on these studies, species regularities and peculiarities of anatomical organization of the mental foramen in different taxonomic groups were revealed. At the analysis of the received linear parameters the index of relative height of a chin aperture was calculated, which is a percentage relation of distance from a chin aperture to the top edge of diastema to height of a body of a mandible on which it is established, that on the digital expressions the dog (69) was in the lead, while the sheep (36) had the minimum digital values. Horse (51) occupied an intermediate position according to the studied index. The results obtained can be used in the development of new methods of tooth extirpation, in the performance of local anesthesia of the trigeminal nerve in veterinary dentistry, as well as in the identification of the animal species by the head skeleton.