Symmetry of root and root canal morphology of mandibular incisors: A cone-beam computed tomography study in vivo

Abstract

Background: Aim of this study was to analyze the root canal configuration in mandibular central and lateral incisors in vivo using cone-beam computed tomography (CBCT) imaging. Material and Methods: A total of 487 mandibular central incisors and 491 mandibular lateral incisors from 250 patients were examined using CBCT imaging, previously taken for diagnosis and treatment. The number of roots, root canal system configuration, presence of apical confluences, distance between confluences and radiographic root end, symmetry between left and right elements were recorded and statistically analyzed. Results: All the examined teeth presented only one root. No significant differences were found between the prevalence of two root canals in mandibular central incisors (219 teeth, 45%) compared to lateral incisors (211 teeth, 43%). Conclusions: The percentage of Vertucci type II configuration was higher than expected, being more frequent than type III. Type I was the prevalent, while other configurations were present but rare.

Root Canal Morphology of the Permanent Mandibular Incisors by Cone Beam Computed Tomography: A Systematic Review

“…After assessing the studies included, we noticed that, even when the same methodology was used, the differences in second root canal percentages (0.4%-45%) remained [14,23]. These results are in contrast with the findings of other authors [4], who attribute the disparity of results to the methodology used.…”

“…Of these, 2219 were removed because of their being duplicates or not related to the study. Of the remaining 71 studies, 52 were removed due to lack of relevance, not using CBCT as their diagnostic methodology, or being in vitro trials, case studies or systematic reviews, leaving a total of 19 studies [8,14,[19][20][21][22][23][24][25][26][27][28][29][30][31][32][33][34][35] (Figure 3. Flowchart).…”

“…The rest of Vertucci's configurations were considered incisors with two canals, regardless of their path in the canal system. When there were two canals, the most frequent classification was type III, with the exception of four studies [8,22,23,35]. There was no heterogeneity as to the frequency of the rest of configurations, with studies where the next most frequent configurations were type II [14,23,26,27,30,33,34], type V [8,[19][20][21]24,25,28,29,32], or type IV [31].…”

“…The remaining types [VI, VII and others] were generally present in very low or non-existent percentages. Five studies reported symmetry between the incisors on the right and left side of the patient [8,19,20,23,26,33]. Lateral incisors showed a higher prevalence in the existence of a second canal compared to central incisors in fourteen studies [7,14,[20][21][22]25,[27][28][29][31][32][33][34][35].…”

“…Lateral incisors showed a higher prevalence in the existence of a second canal compared to central incisors in fourteen studies [7,14,[20][21][22]25,[27][28][29][31][32][33][34][35]. The central incisor had a higher prevalence in only three [19,23,26]. Likewise, we calculated the weighted average of all the percentages in the existence of a second canal, obtaining 17.2% in the central and 23.7% in the lateral incisors.…”