Pre-operative assessment of relationship between inferior dental nerve canal and mandibular impacted third molar in Saudi population

Objective: To study the correlation between the position of the inferior dental (ID) nerve canal and the angulation of impacted mandibular third molars using dental cone beam computed tomography (CBCT). Materials and methods: The study considered 100 impactions in 85 patients (60 males, 25 females), for whom an initial panoramic radiographic assessment had revealed that the ID canal and the lower 3rd molar were in close proximity. A CBCT scan of each patient was carried out to assess how the ID nerve canal position influenced the class and position of impaction, angulation of impaction, and bone contact. Results: Class I position B impactions were found in the majority of cases, where the position of the ID canal was approximate to the lingual plate and inferior to the 3rd molar (85.7%). The results were statistically significant (p= 0.001). 96% of the ID canals showed bone contact. Of these, 77.1% of ID canals exhibited lingual bone contact, inferior to impaction. The results were statistically significant (p= 0.001). Horizontally angulated impactions were most common in the mandible, and significantly associated with lingual and inferior positioning of the ID canal (76.2%). Conclusions: Our sample population most commonly exhibited horizontally angulated class I position B impactions of the mandible. The position of the ID canal significantly influenced the type of impaction and bone contact. © 2014 King Saud University.