Indian Journal of Clinical Anatomy and Physiology 2020;7(3):327–330 Content available at: https://www.ipinnovative.com/open-access-journals Indian Journal of Clinical Anatomy and Physiology Journal homepage: www.ipinnovative.com Original Research Article Study of anatomical variations of mental foramen in dry adult human mandibles and its clinical importance in Karnataka population Humaira Zainab 1 , Sarita Sylvia 2, *, Mohammed Khaleel Ahmed 3 1 Dept. of Anatomy, Faculty of Medicine, Khaja Banda Nawaz Institute of Medical Sciences, Khaja Banda Nawaz University, Gulbarga, Karnataka, India 2 Dept. of Anatomy, Mahadevappa Rampure Medical College, Gulbarga, Karnataka, India 3 Dept. of Anatomy, Shadan Institute of Medical Sciences and Research, Hyderabad, Telangana, India ARTICLE INFO Article history: Received 26-09-2020 Accepted 06-10-2020 Available online 17-10-2020 Keywords: Mental foramen Mandible Accessory mental foramen Double mental foramen ABSTRACT Background: To provide anatomical information on the position, morphological variations and incidence of mental foramen and accessory mental foramen as they are important for dental surgeons, anaesthetists in nerve block and surgical procedures to avoid injury to the neurovascular bundle in the mental foramen area. Materials and Methods: Present study was carried out using 120 dried adult human mandibles of unknown sex obtained from the Bone Bank of the Department of Anatomy. Campass asthesio meter was used to measure the shape, location and direction of opening of mental foramen on both sides of mandibles. Results: The results of our study about position shape and size were compared with that of other authors. In our study, the mean distance between the mental foramen and symphysis menti for right side was 23.21 mm±2.12 and for left side was 23.10 mm±2.41. The mean distance between mental foramen and posterior border of ramus of mandible for right side was 62.58 mm±4.23 and for left side was 63.84 mm±4.72. The mean distance between mental foramen and alveolar crest for right side was 15.23 mm±1.12 and for left side was 16.07 mm±1.01. The mean distance between the mental foramen and base of mandible for right side was 15.61 mm±1.03 and for left side was 15.98 mm±1.06. Conclusion: The knowledge of the distances from surgically encountered anatomical landmarks in the present study provide valuable information to dental surgeons that will facilitate effective localization of the neurovascular bundle passing through mental foramen, thus avoiding complications from local anaesthetic, surgical and other invasive procedures. The study is also of forensic significance as the position of mental foramen also helps in determination of sex of an individual. © 2020 Published by Innovative Publication. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/) 1. Introduction Mental foramen is a small foramen situated in anterolateral aspect of the body of the mandible. Normally, mental foramen is located below the interval between the premolars. It transmits mental nerve, artery and vein. 1–8 Mental nerve is a branch of inferior alveolar nerve which supplies sensation to lower lip and the labial mucosa and lower canines and premolars. The most useful injection for anaesthetising the mandibular teeth is the inferior * Corresponding author. E-mail address: saritasylvia@gmail.com (S. Sylvia). alveolar nerve block. 9–15 To anaesthetise the anterior teeth, including the premolars and canines, it is possible to avoid giving inferior alveolar nerve block by injecting anaesthetic solution adjacent to the mental foramen. 15–18 So, the study of position and morphological variation of mental foramen is very important because it will be helpful to localise the important neurovascular bundle passing through the mental foramen. Any foramen in addition to mental foramen in the body of the mandible is known as accessory mental foramen. Accessory mental foramen transmits the accessory branch of mental nerve. So, the knowledge of its position and https://doi.org/10.18231/j.ijcap.2020.068 2394-2118/© 2020 Innovative Publication, All rights reserved. 327