Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2012 Jul;3(2):156-60.
doi: 10.4103/0976-9668.101896.

Significance of localization of mandibular foramen in an inferior alveolar nerve block

K Thangavelu  1 , R Kannan, N Senthil Kumar, E Rethish, S Sabitha, N Sayeeganesh
Affiliations

Significance of localization of mandibular foramen in an inferior alveolar nerve block

K Thangavelu et al. J Nat Sci Biol Med. 2012 Jul.

Abstract

Background: The mandibular foramen (MF) is an opening on the internal surface of the ramus for divisions of the mandibular vessels and nerve to pass. The aim of this study is to determine the position of the MF from various anatomical landmarks in several dry adult mandibles.

Materials and methods: A total of 102 human dry mandibles were examined, of which 93 were of dentulous and 9 were of edentulous. The measurements were taken from the anterior border of the ramus (coronoid notch) to the midportion of the MF and then from the midportion of the MF to the other landmarks such as internal oblique ridge, inferior border, sigmoid notch, and condyle were measured and recorded.

Results: The data were compared using Student's t-test. The MF is positioned at a mean distance of 19 mm (with SD 2.34) from coronoid notch of the anterior border of the ramus. Superio-inferiorly from the condyle to the inferior border MF is situated 5 mm inferior to the midpoint of condyle to the inferior border distance (ramus height).

Conclusion: We conclude that failures in the anesthesia of the inferior alveolar nerve are due to the operator error and not due to the anatomical variation.

Keywords: Failure of anesthesia; inferior alveolar nerve; mandible foramen.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

Conflict of Interest: None declared.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Localization of MF from various landmarks
Figure 2
Figure 2
MF distance from various landmarks in dentulous mandible
Figure 3
Figure 3
MF distance from various landmarks in edentulous mandible
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Narayana K, Soubhagya RN, Prashanthi N, Latha VP. The location of the mandibular foramen maintains absolute bilateral symmetry in mandibles of different age groups. Hong Kong Dent J. 2005;2:35–7.
    1. Ono E, Medici FE, Moraes LC, Castilho JC, Moraes ME. Anteroposterior location of the mandibular foramen of 7 to 12 yearold children in panoramic radiographs. Braz Dent J. 2005;8:6–12.
    1. Ennes JP, Medeiros RM, Grant JC. Localization of Mandibular Foramen and Clinical Implications. Int J Morphol. 2009;27:1305–11.
    1. Nicholson ML. A study of the position of the mandibular foramen in adult human mandible. Anat Rec. 1985;212:110–2. - PubMed
    1. Simon B, Komives O. Dimensional and positional variations of the ramus of the mandible. J Dent Res. 1938;17:125–49.

LinkOut - more resources