International Journal of Research in Medical Sciences

Bala SS et al. Int J Res Med Sci. 2017 Apr;5(4):1461-1463

www.msjonline.org pISSN 2320-6071 | eISSN 2320-6012

DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.18203/2320-6012.ijrms20171246
Original Research Article

Morphology and morphometry of mental foramen

in dry human mandibles
Samreen Siraj Bala1*, Shaheen Shahdad1, Shahnawaz Bashir2

1
Department of Anatomy, Government Medical College, Srinagar, Jammu and Kashmir, India
2
Department of Interventional Radiology, Institute of Liver and Biliary Sciences Hospital, New Delhi, India

Received: 19 January 2017

Accepted: 03 March 2017

*Correspondence:
Dr. Samreen Siraj Bala,
E-mail: samreensiraj7@gmail.com

Copyright: © the author(s), publisher and licensee Medip Academy. This is an open-access article distributed under
the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial License, which permits unrestricted non-commercial
use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

ABSTRACT

Background: Mental foramen (MF) is an important landmark to facilitate surgical, local anaesthetic and other
invasive procedures. The present study was aimed to provide anatomical information on the position, morphological
variations and incidence of mental foramen and accessory mental foramen.
Methods: This study was conducted on 41 dry adult human mandibles in the department of anatomy, Government
Medical College Srinagar, Jammu and Kashmir. Parameters like incidence, position, shape and presence of accessory
mental foramen were studied.
Results: Mental foramen was present bilaterally in all 41 mandibles. Accessory mental foramen(AMF) was present in
2 cases (4.87%). The most frequent position of foramen in relation to the teeth was in line with the longitudinal axis
of 2nd premolar on both right (63.42%) and left (60.98%) side. Most common shape was round shape.
Conclusions: Mental foramen variation often remains unnoticed and undiagnosed. Variations do exist in the position,
shape, and size of mental foramen in different population groups. Present study provide the necessary data of mental
foramen location and morphometry which may be useful for the surgeons, anaesthetists, neurosurgeons and dentists to
carry out nerve block and surgical procedures.

Keywords: Accessory mental foramen, Mental foramen, Morphometry

INTRODUCTION Mental nerve bundle emerging from the mental foramen

may get injured during surgical procedures with resulting
The mental foramen is an important anatomical landmark paraesthesia or anesthesia along its sensory distribution
to facilitate surgical, local anaesthetic, and other invasive (Phillips et al, 1990). Patient may complaint that there is
procedures. It marks the termination of mandibular canal transient or permanent loss of sensation of the lip, chin,
in the mandible and is situated on the anterolateral aspect oral mucosa that is often associated with a limited
of the body of mandible through which the inferior xerostomia (Gary and Dennis, 2006). This complication
alveolar nerve and vessels pass. Variations of the mental can occur if important vital structures such as mental
foramen are often seen ranging from difference in shape foramen (MF) and anterior mental loop are not properly
and positions to presence of accessory foramen or in identified and protected.4
some cases even complete absence.1-3 The orientation and
position of the mental foramen is important in both Keeping in view the importance of anatomical variations
diagnostic and clinical procedures of the mandible. in mental foramen. The aim of the study was to elucidate

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 Bala SS et al. Int J Res Med Sci. 2017 Apr;5(4):1461-1463

the morphological and morphometric features of mental of mandible was nearly equal that can be read from Table
foramen with reference to surrounding landmarks. 3.

METHODS Table 1: Location of mental foramen in mandible.

41 dry adult human mandible of unknown sex obtained Between Longitudinal Between
Total
from the Government Medical College Srinagar, Jammu Side I and II Axis II PMT
(%)
and Kashmir, India formed the material for study. The PMT Of II PMT and I MT
position of the mental foramen from various landmarks 7 8 41
Right 26 (63.42%)
were recorded on both the sides. The measurements were (17.07%) (19.51%) (100)
taken with the help of the Vernier caliper. The Left 9 7 41
morphological study included location, shape and number 25 (60.98%)
(21.95%) (17.07%) (100)
of mental foramina while morphometrical study included
distance from symphysis menti, inferior border of Table 2: Shape of the mental foramen in percentage.
mandible and alveolar ridge. The data was collected,
tabulated and statistically analyzed. Continuous variables Side Round Oval Total
were summarized as mean and standard deviation. Right 24 (58.54%) 17 (41.46%) 41 (100%)
Categorized variables were summarized as frequency and Left 24 (58.54%) 17 (41.46%) 41 (100%)
percentages.
Table 3: Morphometrical observations.
RESULTS
Right Left
Mental foramen was present bilaterally in all 41 Distance from
(mean± SD) (mean±SD)
mandibles. Accessory mental foramen (AMF) was Mental symphysis 24.46±2.33 24.19±2.60
present in 2 cases (4.87%), on right side in both cases
Alveolar ridge 11.02±2.77 11.07±2.90
shown by an arrow in Figure 1.
Inferior edge 11.12±1.81 11.07±1.72
The position of mental foramen in relation to mandibular
teeth on two sides are shown in Table 1. The most DISCUSSION
frequent position of foramen in relation to the teeth was
in line with the longitudinal axis of 2nd premolar on both The present study reveals valuable insights on the
right (63.42%) and left (60.98%) side. The second information related to the morphology of mental foramen
common position was in line between 1st and 2nd in Kashmir, Jammu and Kashmir, India. The most
premolar (right 17.07%; left 21.95%); closely followed common location of the mental foramen in our study was
by position in the line between 2nd premolar and 1st molar in a longitudinal axis of second premolar. It matches with
teeth (right 19.51 %; left 17.07%). From Table 2 it can be the result of previous studies in other Asian countries like
read that the most common shape was round shape Sri Lanka and Thailand.5,6 Similar results were observed
(58.54%) on both sides. by other authors, where the mental foramen was found
mostly in the longitudinal axis of the second premolar. 7-10
While other studies showed that the most frequent
location of the mental foramen was between 1st and 2nd
premolars.11-13 In present study accessory mental foramen
was present in 4.87% close to Gershenson et al who
examined 525 dry mandibles and reported that 4.3%
mandibles had a double mental foramen.14 Serman
reported the incidence of AMF to be 2.7% while Singh R
Srivastav observed the presence of accessory holes in
13%.15,16

Gupta S et al, Sekerci A et al and Singh R et al reported

that the round shape of mental foramen is the most
frequent one, which is consistent with the present study.
While studies by Budhiraja V et al, Agarwal D et al and
other authors found oval shape in most cases.9,10,16-21
Figure 1: Image showing accessory mental foramen.
CONCLUSION
Morphometric features of 41 dried human mandibles
revealed mean distance from mental symphysis on right Mental foramen variation often remains unnoticed and
side was 24.46±2.33 and on left side 24.19±2.60 while undiagnosed. Variations do exist in the position, shape,
the mean distance from alveolar ridge and lower border and size of mental foramen in different population

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 Bala SS et al. Int J Res Med Sci. 2017 Apr;5(4):1461-1463

groups. Present study provides the necessary data of 11. Haghanifar S, Rokouei M. Radiographic evaluation of
mental foramen location and morphometry which may be the mental foramen in a selected Iranian population.
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Venugopal R. Radiographic study of the location of
Funding: No funding sources mental foramen in a randomly selected Asian Indian
Conflict of interest: None declared population on digital panoramic radiographs. J Med
Ethical approval: The study was approved by the Sci. 2011;11(2):90-5.
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