Assessment of the Mental Foramen Location in a Sample of Fully Dentate Lebanese Adults Using Cone-beam Computed Tomography Technology

OBJECTIVE: The literature reports that the location of mental foramen shows differences among races. The aim of this study was to assess the mental foramen position in a sample of Lebanese population using cone-beam computed tomography (CBCT) technology. MATERIALS AND METHODS: In this study, we investigated CBCT images of 50 fully dentate Lebanese adults (23 males and 27 females). We assessed the horizontal position of the mental foramen in relation with the mandibular premolars in both right and left sides and the vertical position by measuring the distance from the upper border of the foramen to the inferior border of the body of the mandible. The data obtained were statistically analyzed using Chi-square test, and two-sided t-test. Statistical significance was set at p < 0.05. RESULTS: In our sample, the mental foramen was mostly found in line with the second mandibular premolar in both sides and the mean distance from the superior border of the foramen to the inferior border of the body of the mandible was 13.0120 ± 0.98487 mm on the right and 13.0728 ± 0.96029 mm on the left. CONCLUSION: Within the limits of this study, we concluded that in our sample of Lebanese population, there was substantial variability in the mental foramen location.