Can the detection of second mesiobuccal canals be enhanced based on the volume of adjacent canals?

Lucas P Lopes Rosado; Deborah Q Freitas; Karla Rovaris; Matheus L Oliveira; Frederico S Neves

doi:10.1016/j.archoralbio.2022.105604

Can the detection of second mesiobuccal canals be enhanced based on the volume of adjacent canals?

Arch Oral Biol. 2023 Feb:146:105604. doi: 10.1016/j.archoralbio.2022.105604. Epub 2022 Dec 10.

Authors

Lucas P Lopes Rosado¹, Deborah Q Freitas², Karla Rovaris³, Matheus L Oliveira², Frederico S Neves⁴

Affiliations

¹ Department of Oral Diagnosis, Division of Oral Radiology, Piracicaba Dental School, University of Campinas (UNICAMP), Piracicaba, São Paulo, Brazil; Department of Dentistry, University Center of Espírito Santo (UNESC), Colatina, Espírito Santo, Brazil. Electronic address: lucaslopesrosado@gmail.com.
² Department of Oral Diagnosis, Division of Oral Radiology, Piracicaba Dental School, University of Campinas (UNICAMP), Piracicaba, São Paulo, Brazil.
³ Department of Pathology and Dentistry Clinic, School of Dentistry, Federal University of Piauí (UFPI), Teresina, Piauí, Brazil.
⁴ Department of Oral Diagnosis, Division of Oral Radiology, Piracicaba Dental School, University of Campinas (UNICAMP), Piracicaba, São Paulo, Brazil; Department of Propedeutics and Integrated Clinic, Division of Oral Radiology, School of Dentistry, Federal University of Bahia (UFBA), Salvador, Bahia, Brazil.

PMID: 36543039
DOI: 10.1016/j.archoralbio.2022.105604

Abstract

Objectives: The purpose of this study was to evaluate whether the presence of the second mesiobuccal (MB2) canal is related to volumetric differences on the adjacent canals of maxillary molars.

Design: Forty-seven maxillary first and second molars with and without the MB2 canal were individually scanned using microcomputed tomography (micro-CT). The volume of each canal was measured by an evaluator with experience in micro-CT analysis. The intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC) was obtained. Multiple logistic regression and odds ratio was calculated. To compare the volume of canals in molars with and without MB2, the Mann-Whitney test was applied (α = 0.05).

Results: The intra-examiner reproducibility was almost perfect (ICC=0.97). Multiple logistic regression demonstrated that the volume of the mesiobuccal (MB1) canal can possibly act as a predictor of the presence of the MB2 canal. It was also found that the MB1 canal volume is larger in molars without the MB2 canal (p = 0.01). No statistically significant difference was observed in the adjacent canals (p > 0.05).

Conclusions: Despite the challenging detection of the presence of MB2 canals, clinicians should be aware that MB1 canals of reduced volume are highly suggestive of their presence.

Keywords: Anatomy; Dental pulp; Endodontics; Mesiobuccal root; Micro-computed tomography; Molars.

MeSH terms

Cone-Beam Computed Tomography* / methods
Dental Pulp Cavity* / diagnostic imaging
Maxilla
Molar / diagnostic imaging
Reproducibility of Results
Tooth Root
X-Ray Microtomography