Introduction: the infraorbital foramen (IOF) is a hole located in the maxillary bone and delivering passage to the infra orbital vascular-nervous bundle. It is an essential structure in the management of orofacial pathologies. Its precise location allows optimal anesthesia of the infraorbital nerve during cleft lip and palate surgery or alcoholization during the management of essential V2 neuralgia. The aim of our research was to determine the morphology and morphometry of the infraorbital foramen in a sample of the Cameroonian population.
Methods: we included 208 CT-scans of patients meeting our search criteria. We determined the shape of the IOF and evaluated the transverse and vertical diameters of the IOF. We assessed the distance of the IOF from the maxillary alveolar crest and the infraorbital margin. The Student test was used to determine the association between different variables. The P-value of 0.05 was considered significant and the confidence interval was 95%.
Results: male subjects represented 52.4% (n=109) of our participants and the mean age of our population was 26 years ± 7.3. The mean transverse diameter of the left IOF was 1.97 mm ± 0.51 while 1.78 mm ± 0.53. The IOF was more often medial to the lateral palpebral commissure-nasal wing line on the left and right (78.8% and 72.6%, respectively). Our sample showed that in 54.6% (n=113) of subjects, the IOF was oval on the left side, whereas on the right side, the IOF was oval in 52.3% (n=109) of patients.
Conclusion: our study showed that to locate the IOF in a Cameroonian individual, one must palpate the vestibular mucosa opposite the maxillary first molar. Then, one must follow the line passing over this tooth, the IOF is located at about 7 mm from the infra-orbital border and 16 mm from the lateral nasal wall. We have shown that the IOF is located medial to the line connecting the nasal wing to the external palpebral commissure.
Keywords: Infraorbital foramen; clinical landmarks; location; morphometry.
Copyright: Akaba Désiré et al.