Topographic study of antral teeth on computed tomography in a beninese population

Abstract

Background: The topographical relationships between the root tips and the floor of the maxillary sinus favour the occurrence of odontogenic maxillary sinus pathologies. Knowledge of these relationships may help to prevent such pathologies. The aim of this study was to investigate the anatomical relationships between the maxillary sinuses and the apices of the maxillary roots in a Beninese population using computed tomography (CT) images of the maxilla. Materials and Methods: This was a descriptive study of CT scans of facial masses performed between January 2020 and January 2023 in subjects aged at least 18 years without tumour or traumatic sinus pathology. The CT images were in Dicom format. Horos, Excel and SPSS software were used for data collection, entry and analysis. Results: Of the 346 CT scans collected, 255 were included in the analysis. The mean age of the subjects was 42.65±16.57 years and the sex ratio was 2. More than half of the cases involved 3rd molars within the sinus. In 99% of cases, the sinus alveolar recess was located in the root furcation zone. The mean volume of the right sinus was 13.78±4.59 ml and that of the left sinus was 13.65±4.75 ml. Anterior sinus extensions were located in the premolar region (75%) and posterior sinus extensions were located in the tuberosity region (88 to 90%). In 3 out of 4 subjects the sinus floor had an irregular shape. Conclusion: These various insights into the relationships between the maxillary root apices and the sinus floor will be of considerable help to dental surgeons in the prevention of odontogenic maxillary sinus pathology. This is an Open Access (OA) journal, and articles are distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 License, which allows others to remix, tweak, and build upon the work non-commercially, as long as appropriate credit is given and the new creations are licensed under the identical terms. For reprints contact: reprint@ipinnovative.co