Imaging Sci Dent.  2019 Jun;49(2):87-95. 10.5624/isd.2019.49.2.87.

Common conditions associated with mandibular canal widening: A literature review

• Mortazavi
• Baharvand
• Safi Y
• Dalaie K
• Behnaz M
• Safari F

• KMID: 2450174
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.5624/isd.2019.49.2.87

Abstract

PURPOSE
The aim of this study was to review the common conditions associated with mandibular canal widening.
MATERIALS AND METHODS
General search engines and specialized databases including Google Scholar, PubMed, PubMed Central, Science Direct, and Scopus were used to find relevant studies by using the following keywords: "mandibular canal,""alveolar canal,""inferior alveolar nerve canal,""inferior dental canal,""inferior mandibular canal,""widening,""enlargement,""distension,""expansion," and "dilation."
RESULTS
In total, 130 articles were found, of which 80 were broadly relevant to the topic. We ultimately included 38 articles that were closely related to the topic of interest. When the data were compiled, the following 7 lesions were found to have a relationship with mandibular canal widening: non-Hodgkin lymphoma, osteosarcoma, schwannoma, neurofibroma, vascular malformation/hemangioma, multiple endocrine neoplasia syndromes, and perineural spreading or invasion.
CONCLUSION
When clinicians encounter a lesion associated with mandibular canal widening, they should immediately consider these entities in the differential diagnosis. Doing so will help dentists make more accurate diagnoses and develop better treatment plans based on patients' radiographs.

Keyword

Mandibular Nerve; Odontogenic Cysts; Odontogenic Tumors

MeSH Terms

Dentists
Diagnosis
Diagnosis, Differential
Humans
Lymphoma, Non-Hodgkin
Mandibular Nerve
Multiple Endocrine Neoplasia
Neurilemmoma
Neurofibroma
Odontogenic Cysts
Odontogenic Tumors
Osteosarcoma
Search Engine

Figure

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  Fig. 1 Panoramic reconstructed and 3-dimensional cone-beam computed tomographic images show mandibular canal and mental foramen widening in a patient with non-Hodgkin lymphoma, respectively.

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  Fig. 2 Cone-beam computed tomographic images show mandibular canal widening in a patient with osteosarcoma (arrows show the normal canal and mandibular canal widening).

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  Fig. 3 A panoramic reconstructed cone-beam computed tomographic image shows mandibular canal widening in a patient with schwannoma.

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  Fig. 4 A panoramic reconstructed cone-beam computed tomographic image shows mandibular canal widening in a patient with neurofibroma (arrows show the normal canal and mandibular canal widening).

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  Fig. 5 A panoramic image shows mandibular canal widening in a patient with central hemangioma.

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