Transantral intraseptal sinuous canal

Abstract

The sinuous canal is an anatomically well-defined intramural canal of the maxillary sinus (MS) folded within the antral walls. Commonly, its first, infraorbital part, courses within the antral roof, while its second, transverse facial part courses below the infraorbital foramen within the anterior antral wall. While retrospective files of patients that were scanned in cone-beam computed tomography (CBCT) for different dental medical purposes were observed randomly, a peculiar variant of the sinuous canal was noticed and further documented. The respective canal origin was far posterior in the infraorbital groove and the canal coursed through the MS embedded within an incomplete oblique septum dividing the antrum into anterosuperior and posteroinferior chambers. Then the sinuous canal continued with the transverse facial segment. As the sinuous canal contains the superior anterior alveolar nerve and artery, major suppliers of the frontal teeth, it is recommended to document in CBCT a possible transantral, and not intramural, course of it, especially when surgical or endoscopic corridors through the MS are planned.