A study of mandibular canal angle and location of mental foramen on the panoramic radiograph

Purpose: To assess the angle between mandibular canal and occlusal plane at each posterior tooth region and location of mental foramen on the panoramic radiographs. Materials and Methods: This study analysed 46 half-mandibles of panoramic radiographs. Inferior border of mandibular canal was traced. Occlusal plane was drawn from lingual cusp tip of the first premolar to distolingual cusp tip of the second molar. Perpendicular line from occlusal plane was drawn at each tooth region and then tangential lines were drawn from the crossing points at canal. the angle between occlusal plane and tangential line was measured. The location of mental foramen was also studied. According to the location of mental foramen, radiographs were divided into M (mesial) group and D (distal) group on the basis of the second premolar. and then inter-group analysis about mandibular canal angle was done. Results: The angles of mandibular canals were -17.7, -9.5, 8.2, 22.3, and 39.2at first premolar, second premolar, first molar, second molar, and third molar, respectively. The commonest position of the mental foramen was distal to the second premolar. Inter-group comparison showed statistically significant difference at the second premolar and the first molar(p