A Study Of The Root Canal Morphology Of Permanent Anterior Teeth Using Cone-beam Computed Tomography In A Chinese Subpopulation

Aim:The purpose of this study was to investigate the root canal configuration of the permanet anterior teeth using cone-beam computed tomography (CBCT) in a Chinese subpopulation, in order to analyze the root canal numbers and types, and provide a detailed knowledge of the root canal morphology in permannent anterior teeth.Materials and Methods:A total of3871cone-beam computed tomography images of mandibular anterior teeth and3709images of maxillary anterior teeth were collected from648patients. The following items were recorded and evaluated:tooth position, root number, canal number, root canal type, the distance between the anatomic apex and the point at which the canal divided into two for mandibular anterior teeth with two root canals (excluding canines with two roots) and the distance between the two root canal orifices. Chi-square test was used to analyze the correlation between the number of root canals and tooth position.Results:In the mandibular anterior teeth, all of the incisors in this study had one root, and1.32%of the canines had two roots. The prevalence of two root canals in the lateral incisors (354,27.36%) was higher than that in the central incisors (202,15.71%)(p<0.05) and in the canines (81,6.27%)(p<0.05). The distance between the anatomic apex and the point at which the canal divided into two for mandibular anterior teeth with two root canals distributed in2-13mm in the centrals,2-15mm in the laterals, and5-17mm in the canines. The distance between the two root canal orifices varied from0mm to3mm. All of the maxillary anterior had a single root, and99.78%of them had a single root canal. Only8cases showed double canals, which displayed type II, III and V. There were2 cases of type II and1case of type V in the maxillary central incisors,3cases of type III in the lateral incisors, and2cases of type II in the canines.Conclusions:CBCT can provide detailed information about the root and canal morphology. The maxillary anterior teeth perform little variations. But there is a high prevalence of two root canals in the mandibular anterior teeth of the studied Chinese subpopulation. And the second canal can appear at any level of the root, concentrated on cervical and middle thirds. This study improves the information about the root canal morphology of permanent anterior teeth in a Chinese subpopulation.