Ultrasound identification and quantitative measurement of blood supply to the anterior part of the mandible.

Objective: Recent studies suggest that the main blood supply to the bony chin may be through a single arterial branch of the 2 sublingual arteries that anastomose at the midline and penetrate the bone through the lingual foramen, approximately 13 mm from the lower border of the mandible. The objective of this study was to demonstrate the validity of this hypothesis in vivo, to identify clinically the main blood supply to the bony chin, and to measure its parameters: diameter of vessel, direction of flow, and its volume. Materials and method Ultrasound/doppler measurements and periapical radiographs were taken on 20 healthy volunteers, randomly divided into 2 equal groups in order to compare the method's validity.