Abstract:

Mental foramen is an important anatomical structure of the mandible. Mental foramen may be presented as more than one in some individuals and named as accessory mental foramen in such cases. Compared to mental foramen, accessory mental foramen are smaller in dimension and because of this, they may remain undetected with conventional imaging modalities. Cone-beam computerized tomography is a technique providing radiographic images of the three orthogonal planes of the maxillofacial region without magnification and distortion. Thus, compared with conventional radiographic techniques, it is more successful in the diagnosis of anatomical structures such as the accessory mental foramen. CASE REPORT: Two female patients, one aged 27 and the other aged 59, presenting accessory mental foramen on cone-beam computerized tomography images on the left side of the mandible were presented in this article. CONCLUSION: The visualization of accessory mental foramens with cone-beam computerized tomography has an important role in preventing complications such as paresthesia and bleeding during surgical procedures.

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