Detecting the Second Mesiobuccal Canal in Maxillary Molars in aSaudi Arabian Population: A Micro-CT Study

The aimofthisstudywastodetermineMB2 canaldetectabilityinmaxillaryfirstandsecondmolarsobtainedfromaSaudipopulationusingmicro-CT.M axillaryfirst (n=35) andsecond (n=30) molarswerescannedwithmicro-CTtechnology.Thenumberofcanalswasrecorded,andincaseofhavingmorethanonecanal,thelevelofextracanaldetectionwasanalyzed.Thepresenceofextracanalwascategorizedbasedontheleveltheywerefirstdetected.Amongthemaxillaryfirstmolars, 28(80%) andsix (17%) teethhadtwoandthreeMBcanals,respectively.Amongthemaxillarysecondmolars, 24 (80%) and four (13%) teethhadtwoandthreeMBcanals,respectively.TheMB2canalwasdetectedatthechamberfloorin 70% and61% ofthemaxillaryfirstandsecondmolars,respectively. At1mmdepth,theMB2canalwasfoundin15%and18% ofthemaxillaryfirstandsecondmolars,respectively.At2mmdepth,theMB2canalwasfoundin3%and18% ofthemaxillaryfirstandsecondmolars,respectively.TheremainingteethhadtheMB2canalatlevelsdeeperthan2mm.TheMB2canalwasdetectedin97%and93%%of maxillaryfirstandsecondmolars,respectively.Amongthem,theMB2canalcouldbeimmediatelydetectedin70%and61%of themaxillaryfirstandsecondmolars,respectively,oncethepulpchamberisexposed.However,therestoftheMB2wereobservedatdeeperlevelsintherootandthisrequirestroughingpreparationinthechamberfloor.