A morphological study of the foramina of the mandible in the Japanese macaque by cone-beam computed tomography.

The mandibular canal (MC) contains vessels and nerves in the mandible of the Japanese macaque (JM). The inferior alveolar nerves and vessels of the mandible insert from the mandibular foramen and then run through the MC, the mental foramen and spinal foramen to the outside of the mandible. However, the detailed morphological properties of multiple canals, such as the accessory canal (AC) of the mandible, are unknown in JMs. The purpose of this study was to describe the multiple canals of JMs and to determine the location and analyse the measurements of the JM mandible. In this study, we also showed the course of the lingual foramen in 17 JMs (male: n = 8; female: n = 9) using cone-beam computed tomography (CBCT). In our results, we classified multiple mental foramina and multiple lingual foramina found on the mandibular body at the premolar or molar region. However, there was no significance between the formation of mandibular properties and the lingual foramen. These multiple foramina contain nerves and blood vessels have a few branched canals; these branches run downward and connect with the inferior mandibular nerve and artery. These morphological features may provide useful information about surgical treatment of the alveolus in a human model.