Root Canal Systems in Mandibular First Premolars with C-shaped Root Configurations. Part I

Microcomputed Tomography Mapping of the Radicular Groove and Associated Root Canal Cross-sections

Fan, Bing DDS, MSc, PhD
Yang, Jun DDS, PhD
Gutmann, James L. DDS, PhD, FACD, FICD, FADI
Fan, Mingwen DDS

^*Key Lab for Oral Biomedical Engineering of Ministry of Education, Endodontic Center, School and Hospital of Stomatology, Wuhan University, Wuhan, China
^†Department of Endodontics, Baylor College of Dentistry, Texas A&M University system Health Science Center, Dallas, TX

Supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (grant no. 30572042) and the Key Technologies R&D Programme of Hubei Province, China (grant no. 2007AA302B06).

Address requests for reprints to Dr Bing Fan, Key Lab for Oral Biomedical Engineering of Ministry of Education, School and Hospital of Stomatology, Wuhan University, 237 Luoyu Road, Wuhan 430079, China. E-mail address: [email protected].

Journal of Endodontics 34(11):p 1337-1341, November 2008.

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to investigate the morphology of the radicular grooves and root canal cross-sections in mandibular first premolars that exhibit a C-shaped root. Eighty-six mandibular first premolars with C-shaped roots were scanned from the coronal to anatomical apex using μCT80. The location, length, and depth of the radicular grooves were measured. The cross-sectional morphology of root canal systems was evaluated at 11 levels. Results were subject to the Kruskal-Wallis test. Of the 86 C-shaped roots, a total of 93 radicular grooves were noted. Most of the grooves (78.5%) were located on the mesiolingual surface of the root. The C-shaped canal could vary considerably in shape at different levels, and the incidence of two canals at the middle and apical was 21% and 80%, respectively. This study shows that radicular grooves may present relevant morphologic variations in the root canal system when the C-shaped root is present.