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Clinical anatomy of coronoid foramina of mandible and review of its implications in maxillofacial surgery

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Abstract

Introduction

A foramen in the coronoid process of the human mandible is a recently identified anatomic variant. The authors in this script aim at presenting a detailed assessment of the coronoid foramen terming it as ‘’'foramen of Nyer' (FN) based on the person first identifying it.

Methods

Mandibular cone beam computed tomography scans from a total of 2168 patients were evaluated on a prospective and retrospective scale for confirmation of the coronoid foramen after first identification over a panoramic radiograph.

Results

The coronoid foramen was found and confirmed in 96 (4.4%) patients. This script identifying the coronoid foramina of mandible becomes requisite research as a foundation for further analysis due to the scarcity of literature on this recent find.

Discussion

This anatomical–radiological study aims to explore the variant foramina using cone beam computed tomography while determining its prevalence and evaluating its variability in terms of unilateral, bilateral, or gender predilection and propose the significance of this unique anatomic finding.

Clinical consequences

The lack of information about the presence of such variant foramina may lead to emergence of clinical morbidities such as increased risk of intra osseous hemorrhage and tumor spread due to presence of accessory blood vessels.

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Data availability

The data that support the findings of this study are available on request from the corresponding author. The data are not publicly available due to privacy or ethical restrictions.

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Acknowledgements

We are grateful to Ms. Helen Teen for her timely analysis, preparation, and review with technical support.

Funding

The authors received no funding or grants for this work from any organization or foundation.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Riyadh Specialized Dental Centre, Ishbiliya, Riyadh, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia

    Nyer Firdoose Chintamani Subhan & Mohamad Mahmoud Awadalla AlSaleh

  2. Dental Health Care and Research Unit @ Gharonda, Hosmat Hospital, Hennur, Bangalore, India

    Nyer Firdoose Chintamani Subhan, Ghousia Begum Syed & Syeda Umul Khair

Authors
  1. Nyer Firdoose Chintamani Subhan
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  2. Mohamad Mahmoud Awadalla AlSaleh
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  3. Ghousia Begum Syed
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  4. Syeda Umul Khair
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Contributions

NFCS: protocol/project development, data collection, data analysis, and manuscript writing. MMAS: protocol/project development, data collection, data analysis, and manuscript writing. GS: project development, data analysis, and manuscript editing. SUK: protocol development, data collection, and manuscript editing.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Nyer Firdoose Chintamani Subhan.

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Conflict of interest

All authors would like to confirm and declare that they have no conflicts of interest.

Ethical approval

All procedures followed were per the protocol of the work centre and ethical standards of the responsible committee on human experimentation (institutional and national) and with the Helsinki Declaration of 1975, as revised in 2000. This study was approved by the ethical board with vide approval number 20-242E.

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Firdoose Chintamani Subhan, N., Awadalla AlSaleh, M.M., Begum Syed, G. et al. Clinical anatomy of coronoid foramina of mandible and review of its implications in maxillofacial surgery. Surg Radiol Anat 45, 445–452 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00276-023-03093-z

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00276-023-03093-z

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