A Cone-Beam Computed Tomography Study of Root Anatomy and Canal Morphology of Mandibular Incisors in an Egyptian Sub-Population

Endodontic treatment is basically dependent on knowledge of the root canal morphology. The
purpose of this study was to analyze the root canal configuration of the mandibular incisor teeth in
the Egyptian subpopulation using cone-beam computed tomographic (CBCT) imaging. A total of
1140 CBCT images of mandibular incisor teeth were obtained from 300 patients who were seeking
to receive implant or orthodontic treatment and accepted CBCT projection. Vertucci’s classification
was used as a reference to correlate the analysis. The number of roots, number of canals, and root
canal type were calculated and plotted. The results showed that all the mandibular incisors revealed
one root. The analysis of root canal number irrespective to canal configuration type revealed single
root canal (90.2%, n= 53) out of 592 central mandibular incisors and (81.38% n= 446) out of
548 lateral mandibular incisors. The prevalence of two root canals in mandibular lateral incisors
(18.61%, n=102 out of 548) was significantly higher than that of mandibular central incisors (9.45%
n=56 out of 592) (P< 0.5). Within the limitations of this study, it has been concluded that CBCT
is efficient tool for mapping root canal configuration. The majority of the Egyptian subpopulation
have higher incidence of single canal in lower incisors. Most of two canal cases was type II.