Potu Bhagath Kumar, Kumar Vinod, Salem Abdel-Halim, Abu-Hijleh Marwan
Department of Anatomy, College of Medicine and Medical Sciences, Arabian Gulf University, 26671 Manama, Bahrain.
Department of Anatomy, Sapthagiri Institute of Medical Sciences & Research Center, Bangalore 560010, India.
Anat Res Int. 2014;2014:296717. doi: 10.1155/2014/296717. Epub 2014 Sep 29.
The retromolar foramen (RMF) is a rare anatomical structure situated in the retromolar fossa behind the third molar tooth. When it is present, the foramen is connected with the mandibular canal and is believed to transmit neurovascular structures that provide accessory source to the mandibular molars and the buccal area. Reports from the literature show that the presence of RMF could pose a challenge in complete blockage of the inferior alveolar nerve during mandibular surgeries. We report the incidence of retromolar foramen from ninety-four dry mandibles of south-eastern part of Karnataka State, India. The foramen was observed in 11 mandibles out of 94 included in the study (11.7%). In three mandibles, the foramen was present bilaterally (3.2%) and in three it was on the left side (3.2%) and in five it was on the right side (5.3%). For the first time, we also measured the dimensions of the retromolar area and distance of the foramen from third molar tooth to understand its risks during the surgical extraction of the lower third molar tooth. A thorough review of the literature has also been done to compare the present findings with the studies reported from the various populations.
磨牙后孔（RMF）是一种罕见的解剖结构，位于第三磨牙后方的磨牙后窝内。当存在该孔时，它与下颌管相连，并且被认为传递为下颌磨牙和颊区提供辅助来源的神经血管结构。文献报道显示，RMF的存在可能在下颌手术中对下牙槽神经的完全阻滞构成挑战。我们报告了来自印度卡纳塔克邦东南部94个干燥下颌骨的磨牙后孔发生率。在纳入研究的94个下颌骨中，有11个观察到了该孔（11.7%）。在3个下颌骨中，该孔双侧存在（3.2%），3个在左侧（3.2%），5个在右侧（5.3%）。我们还首次测量了磨牙后区的尺寸以及该孔与第三磨牙的距离，以了解在下颌第三磨牙手术拔除过程中的风险。我们还对文献进行了全面回顾，以便将当前的研究结果与来自不同人群的研究报告进行比较。
