Evaluation of the root canal configurations of the mandibular and maxillary permanent teeth by gender in the Turkish population

Abstract

A key objective of successful nonsurgical endodontic treatment is obturation of the root canal systems. One factor in achieving this goal is the knowledge of possible root canal morphologies. Root canal morphology may exhibit variation as a result of many factors, including ethnic origin. In this study, 1400 male and 1400 female extracted mandibular and maxillary permanent teeth were evaluated for patterns in root canal morphology. The mandibular and maxillary teeth were divided into seven groups of tooth type (e.g. centrals, laterals, canines, first premolars, second premolars, first molars, and second molars), subdivided into gender, and classified by root canal morphologies. Vertucci's classification was taken as a reference during the evaluation. Although a majority of the specimens corresponded to this classification scheme, the analysis of this large data set revealed 14 additional root canal morphologies.