Investigation of the incidence ofaccessory foramen infraorbitale in adult Turkish population in dry skulls

Abstract

The foramen infraorbitale is the opening in the face of the canalis infraorbitalis, which carries the infraorbital artery, vein and nerve. It is located below the infraorbital margin in the maxilla and is found bilaterally in the facial skeleton. Infraorbital nerve, after leaving the infraorbital foramen, gives its branches by travelling on the anterior surface of the maxilla. During embryological development, the development of an accessory foramen infraorbitale can be observed especially in the superior medial aspect of the foramen infraorbitale. Knowledge of this variation will increase the effectiveness of anaesthesia during facial applications.The main objective of our study is to investigate the presence of accessory foramen infraorbitale and to contribute to the literature by paying attention to the localisation of accessory foramen infraorbitale. Knowledge of these localisation changes will be useful to increase the effectiveness of local anaesthesia in treatment areas such as maxillofacial surgery, plastic surgery, dentistry and otolaryngology. In the laboratory of the Department of Anatomy, Akdeniz University Faculty of Medicine, 111 dry skulls were examined and 144 skull halves were measured. The study was repeated three times with two independent observers. The frequency of accessory foramen infraorbitale in 144 skull halves was 34%; 44.4% of these accessory foramen infraorbitale were found to be on the left and 23.6% on the right. 13.9% were observed bilaterally. The sex of the skulls observed in our study is not known. Future radiological studies in which gender is determined and categorised according to age groups will contribute to the incidence studies in this field. The findings of our study showed that the incidence of accessory foramen infraorbitale is high in the Turkish population. Therefore, it is important to be aware of this variation during the treatment of patients in anaesthesia applications in the maxillofacial area.