Panoramic radiographic study of mental foramen locations in Saudi Arabians

Abstract

A panoramic radiographic study was carried out on 404 dentate Saudi Arabians, to locate positions of the mental foramen. Results show that 83.7% of the mental foramen locations occurred in the interdental space between the mandibular premolars and apical to the mandibular second premolar. 9.35% occurred posterior to the mandibular second premolar, and 6.95% occurred apical/anterior to the mandibular first premolar. In female Saudis, the most common location of the mental foramen was apical to the mandibular second premolar (45.9%), while the most common location in male Saudis was the interdental space between the mandibular premolars (45.5%). Asymmetry of the mental foramen location, which was observed in 15.6% of the cases, was observed more often in males (17.9%) than in females (12.3%).