Visibility of the mandibular canal on cross-sectional CBCT images at impacted mandibular third molar sites

The aim of the present study was to assess visibility of the mandibular canal (MC) on cross-sectional cone beam CT (CBCT) images at impacted mandibular third molar (IMTM) sites. CBCT images for 150 IMTMs were selected for the study. The type of tooth impaction (horizontal, vertical, mesial and distal) and location of the MC (inferior in contact and superimposed) were evaluated on pseudo-panoramic images. Cross-sectional images were generated and two observers evaluated the location of the MC (buccal, lingual, inter-radicular and inferior) and its visibility using 3-point scoring scale: (1-3, good-excellent). Kruskal-Wallis test was used to examine the differences in the visibility of the MC according to its location and the type of tooth impaction. The visibility scores of the MC were good, very good and excellent at 3, 25 and 122 IMTM sites, respectively. There were no statistically significant differences in the visibility scores of the MC according to its location or the type of tooth impaction (P < 0.05). Therefore, despite the different locations of the MC and different types of tooth impaction at IMTM sites, the visibility of the MC was excellent on most of the cross-sectional CBCT images. CBCT is considered a valuable diagnostic tool for achieving these results.