Radiological assessment of the inferior alveolar canal and mental foramen using cone beam computed tomography for pre-operative evaluation of surgeries in the mandible: A single-center five-year retrospective study

Cone beam computed tomography (CBCT) plays a significant role in studying the anatomical structures of the mandible. This retrospective study aimed to assess the role of CBCT at the pre-assessment stage of mandibular surgery. A total of 250 CBCT images were collected. The inferior alveolar canal (IAC) and mental foramen (MF) were measured bilaterally to the mandibular teeth apexes, including molars, premolars, and canines, to the buccal, lingual cortical bone, and to the inferior border of the mandible. There were no differences in the average number of extracted teeth between the right and left sides (P-value > 0.05, median = three teeth). It was noticed that the average measures of each point of the IAC and MF on the right side were closely matched to the similar point on the left side (P-value > 0.05). T-tests showed that there were differences between males and females on the M2 and M3 on the right side (P-value