The unusually lower position of the mandibular foramen and the canal of the neck of mandible.

ABSTRACT

BACKGROUND: The inferior alveolar nerve (IAN) courses through the mandibular foramen (MF) to enter the first segment of the mandibular canal (MC) in the mandibular ramus, to further supply with trigeminal fibers the lower teeth of that hemimandible. As the IAN also supplies the mylohyoid nerve, it is a mixed nerve. METHODS: Unusual morphologies of the mandibular ramus were encountered during a retrospective study of archived CBCT files. RESULTS: A previously unreported anatomic variation was found bilaterally in an edentulous mandible, consisting of a lowered position of the MF, with seemingly compensatory lengthening and enlargement of the sulcus colli, thus shortened MCs. Also, a rare neurovascular canal of the neck of the mandible was incidentally found unilaterally in another case and is reported here. CONCLUSIONS: Such possibilities of variation could justify the individual effect of the IAN block.