A Radiographic Study to Evaluate the Course and Visibility of the Mandibular Canal in Darbhanga Population: An Original Research

ABSTRACT

Introduction: Mandibular canal or inferior alveolar canal isan important anatomical landmark in mandible which containsneurovascular bundles. Mandibular canal is considered asreference anatomical landmark in maxillofacial surgeries.The aim of this study was to evaluate the course and visibilityof the mandibular canal in Darbhanga (Bihar) populationon digital panoramic radiographs, and the objective was toassess the normal variation of mandibular canal on panoramicradiographsMaterial and Methods: A total of 500 panoramic radiographswere selected from the archives of our department as softcopies. The course of mandibular canal was evaluated onpanoramic radiographs. The collected data were subsequentlyprocessed and analyzed using SPSS statistical package version17.Results: We found that elliptic curve is most common curve.Visibility of mandibular canal is more in the third molarregion compared to first molar region. Conclusion: In thepresent study, most common curve was elliptic curve (64.8%)followed by linear curve (22.2%). Visibility of mandibularcanal in third molar region was 98.1%. In both gender, ellipticcurve was most common curve.