Estimating the Prevalence and Variation in Anterior Loop of Inferior Alveolar Nerve with Cone-Beam Computed Tomography in North Indian Population: An In Vivo Study

Abstract

Abstract Purpose The present in vivo study aimed to estimate the prevalence and variation in anterior loop of inferior alveolar nerve (IAN) in relation to mental foramen to assess the safe zone in anterior part of mandible for implant placement with cone-beam computed tomography (CBCT) in North Indian population. Materials and Methodology To conduct this study, 70 patients were selected and radiographically evaluated. All CBCT scans were made from Genoray Papaya 3D Plus. CBCTs were evaluated in CDSee software for anterior loop and height measurement anterior to mental foramen. Four parameters of prevalence of loop length and height anterior to mental foramen on right and left side each and four parameters of variation in loop length and height on right and left side each were recorded with the help of descriptive statistical analyses (mean, median, mode, and range) and paired t-test. Level of significance (p) was also calculated. Result Paired t-test value for comparison on both the right and left sides for loop length of IAN anterior to mental foramen was 0.140 and paired t-test value for loop height was 0.384. The p-values for loop length and height were 0.8891 and 0.7019, respectively. Conclusion Within the limitation of the study, it was observed that the anterior loop has a wide range of prevalence and variation in terms of loop length and loop height suggesting that it is difficult to get a defined measurement of loop length for a given population and surgical procedures cannot be performed based on the given data for IAN loop anatomy.