90 Academia Anatomica International ¦ Volume 5 ¦ Issue 2 ¦ July-December 2019 90 Morphometric Analysis of Infraorbital Foramen in the Telangana Population Masooma Begum 1 , B H Shiny Vinila 2 1 Assistant professor, Department of Anatomy, Mahaveer Institute of Medical Sciences, Vikarabad, Telangana, 2 Senior Lecturer, Department of Anatomy, Panineeya Institute of Dental Sciences, Hyderabad, Telangana. Introduction: The infraorbital foramen gives passage to the infraorbital nerve and vessels. The infraorbital nerve needs to be blocked to anaesthetise lower eyelid, lateral nose, upper lip, upper teeth and gingivae for various dental treatments or maxillofacial surgical procedures. The present study was undertaken to determine the size and location of the infraorbital foramen in Telanagana population. Subjects and Methods: The study was conducted on 52 skulls. The size was determined by taking maximum vertical and maximum transverse diameters. The location of the infraorbital foramen was determined by measuring the distance between the centre of the foramen and infraorbital margin, the distance from the centre of the foramen to piriform aperture, and the distance from the centre of the foramen to anterior nasal spine. Results: The mean vertical and transverse diameter of the infraorbital foramen was 3.57 mm and 2.88 mm on the right side and 3.18 mm and 2.98 mm on the left side respectively. The mean distance from the centre of the infraorbital foramen to infraorbital margin, anterior nasal spine and piriform aperture was 7.31mm, 32.46 mm and 16.57 mm on the right side and 7.27 mm, 31.70 mm and 16.13 mm on the left side respectively. Conclusion: Knowledge about the exact size and location of the infraorbital foramen will be useful for the dental and maxillofacial surgeons to blocking the infraorbital nerve and also while performing various therapeutic procedures in this region. Keywords: Infraorbital nerve block, infraorbital foramen, piriform aperture, anterior nasal spine, infraorbital margin. Corresponding Author: Dr. Masooma Begum, Assistant Professor, Department of Anatomy, Mahaveer Institute of Medical Sciences, Shivareddypet, Vikarabad, Telangana. 501102. Received: December 2019 Accepted: December 2019 Introduction Infraorbital foramen is situated on the anterior surface of the maxilla below the infraorbital margin which gives passage to infraorbital nerve and vessels. [1] Infraorbital nerve is a continuation of maxillary nerve which is purely sensory in function. The infraorbital nerve divides into 3 terminal branches palpebral, nasal, and labial branches after coming out from the foramen. The infraorbital nerve innervates the lower eye lid and conjunctiva, external surface of nose including ala of the nose, the upper lip, upper incisors, canine, premolars, and mesiobuccal root of the first molar on the ipsilateral side of the face. [2] The exact location of the infraorbital foramen is very important as it is useful in the acupuncture to treat trigeminal neuralgia, to minimise the risk of orbital surgiries and zygoma fractures. [3-5] The infraorbital plexus region is considered as the risk zone during the plastic surgeries. [6] The morphometric analysis of the infraorbital foramen is essential to get success in the regional anesthesia by blocking the infraorbital nerve. [7,8] The Infraorbital nerve is blocked through infraorbital foramen and infraorbital canal to anesthetize the lower eyelid, lateral part of external nose, upper lip, maxillary teeth and related gingivae. The regional anesthesia of infraorbital nerve is essential for the diagnostic, therapeutic, surgical procedures in the maxillofacial region. [9] The therapeutic infraorbital nerve blocks are used in severe trigeminal neuralgia where the condition is nonresponsive to the medication. [10] The infraorbital nerve block is not preferred by the dentists because of the increase risk of damage to the eye. [11] The proper knowledge on the size and location of the infraorbital foramen is very much essential for the dentists, maxillofacial surgeons and plastic surgeons. The present study was focused on the determination of the size, location of the infraorbital foramen in Telangana population. Subjects and Methods The present study was a cross sectional study consisting of 52 adult dry human skulls. All these skulls were collected from the department of Anatomy, Mahaveer Institute of Medical Sciences, Vikarabad. Damaged skulls especially in the infraorbital region were excluded from the study. The size of the infraorbital foramen was determined by measuring the vertical and the horizontal diameters of the infraorbital foramen [Figure 1 & 2]. The location of the ISSN (0): 2455-5274; ISSN (P): 2617-5207