Cone Beam Computed Tomography Assessment of Accessory Infraorbital Foramen and Determination of Infraorbital Foramen Position

There is no evidence about evaluating accessory infraorbital foramen by 3-dimensional analysis like multi slice computed tomography or cone beam computed tomography (CBCT) in human subjects. To authors' best knowledge this is a first study to assess the accessory infraorbital foramen and position of infraorbital foramen in relation to crown of maxillary teeth using CBCT. This study primarily aimed to assess the location and number of accessory infraorbital foramen (AIOF), to measure the distance between main infraorbital foramen and AIOF and secondarily to determine the position of infraorbital foramen in relation to crowns of maxillary second premolar, first molar, and second molar. Cone beam computed tomography volumes of 200 patients were retrieved from the digital imaging and communications in medicine archive folder. Accessory infraorbital foramen was recognized in 29% of the patients among whom 46.6% were present on the right side, 31% on the left side, and 22.4% located bilaterally. The most frequent position of infraorbital foramen was found to be in line with crown of second premolar. The presence of AIOF and inability to recognize it in preoperative evaluation could be considered among the other reasons of failure or incomplete anesthesia.