EVALUATION OF RETROMOLAR CANAL PREVALENCE IN DIFFERENT FACIAL PATTERNS ON CONE BEAN COMPUTED TOMOGRAPHY

This study aimed to evaluate the prevalence of the retromolar canal (RC) and retromolarforamen (RF) in different facial patterns in Cone Beam Computed Tomography. The sample consisted of 90 tomographies obtained from the Sao LeopoldoMandic Faculty database, Campinas-SP/Brazil. These images were selected in three groups with 30 patients each, according to their facial type: mesofacial, brachyfacial and dolichofacial. RC and RF prevalence was 10.0%. 6.6% of the retromolar foramen presence was in women. Regarding the facial profile, the dolichofacial patients had a higher frequency of 13.3%, in the brachyfacials 10% and in the mesofacial ones 6.7%. 5.6% of the patients were affected on the right side, 1.1% on the left side and 3.3% on the both sides. According to the results obtained, it is concluded that retromolar foramen and retromolar canal are frequent anatomical variations(10%) and additional care should be taken to approach the retromolar region.