Morphometric analysis of the apical foramina in extracted human teeth

Background: The aim of the study was to analyse the morphology of the apical foramen in permanent maxillary and mandibular human teeth.Materials and methods: The anatomic parameters include shapes (rounded, oval, uneven, flat and semilunar) and location (centre, buccal/labial, lingual/palatal, mesial, and distal) of the apical foramina was evaluated. The shapes and locations of apical foramen were analysed based on tooth type (central incisor, lateral incisor, canine, premolars, and molars) arch type (maxillary and mandibular), and position (anterior and posterior). All the teeth were investigated for the apical foramina shape and location using a stereomicroscope at a magnification of 10×. Descriptive statistics performed using SPSS (Version 21.0, IBM, NY, USA) at p value less than 0.05.Results: The common shape of apical foramina was round (65%) and location was centre (32%). The frequency of deviation of apical was 68% in overall teeth. Apical foramina in maxillary anterior teeth showed more deviation while posterior teeth in mandibular teeth. The most common shape of apical foramina was round (65.1%) followed by (31%) and flat and semilunar shapes are very rare in studied subjects.Conclusions: The most frequent direction of deviation is the distal surface, followed by the mesial surface. The variation is more common in mandibular posterior teeth, while maxillary posteriors showed the least difference. The commonest shape of the apical foramen is of a round shape, followed by the oval. The oval shape of the apical foramen is most frequent with central incisors