The clinical significance of the retromolar canal and foramen in dentistry

The mandibular canal is nowadays acknowledged as a major trunk with multiple smaller branches running roughly parallel to it. Most of these accessory canals contain branches of the inferior alveolar neurovascular bundle that supplies the dentition, jawbone, and soft tissue around the gingiva and lower lip. This article reviews the prevalence, classification and morphometric measurements of the retromolar canal and its aperture. A retromolar canal is a bifid variation of the mandibular canal that divides from above this main canal, and travels anterosuperiorly within the bone to exit via a single foramen or multiple foramina into the retromolar fossa. This foramen, termed the retromolar foramen, allows accessory branches of the inferior alveolar neurovascular bundles to supply tissues at the retromolar trigone. Clinically, it is of the utmost importance to determine the exact location of the mandibular canal and to identify its retromolar accessory branches when surgery in the posterior mandible is to be performed.