Panoramic Radiographic Appearance of the Mandibular Canal in Health and in Disease

Abstract

The mandibular canal is of particular importance to the dentist and dental specialist as it carries both the dental division of the trigeminal nerve and the nerve supply for the lower lip. The trigeminal nerve ent Mandibular Foramen ers the inner surface of the mandibular ramus at the mandibular foramen, in the vicinity of a bony eminence, the lingula. This is a fact learned in study of anatomy and reinforced by the everyday necessity of locating an inferior dental block injection for local analgesia required in many dental procedures. What is not so well understood is that normal is a range and that variations do occur in which there may be more than one canal entry point, a factor that might account for failed anesthesia in at least a small percentage of patients. Such variations have been described both during studies of macerated mandibles from cadavers and also from the study of panoramic radiographs.

Panoramic radiographs may also help find the position of the mental foramen, through which the nerve supply to the lower lip passes.