Morphological and topographic evaluation of the mandibular canal and its relationship with the facial profile, skeletal class, and sex.

Purpose: The aim of this study was to evaluate the morphology and topography of the mandibular canal in patients with different facial profiles, skeletal classes, and sexes.

Methods: Cone-beam computed tomography volumes of 103 patients were classified according to facial profile and skeletal class. Two examiners classified the mandibular canal into a linear, spoon-shaped, elliptical arc, or turning curvature and measured four related linear distances. The most frequent mandibular canal curvature was identified and multi-way ANOVA with Tukey's test compared the linear measurements between facial types, skeletal class, and sexes (α = 0.05). Kappa and intraclass correlation coefficients were used to assess the reproducibility of qualitative and quantitative variables, respectively.

Results: The examiners showed excellent reproducibility. The four curvatures of the mandibular canal were found, but the spoon-shaped and elliptical arch were the most frequent. No significant differences were observed for most of the linear measurements between the different facial profiles, skeletal classes, and sexes (p > 0.05).

Conclusion: Spoon-shaped and elliptical arch are the most frequent curvatures of the mandibular canal; furthermore, its morphology and topography seem to be little influenced by the facial profile, skeletal class, and sex.