Evaluation of Variations in Root Canal Anatomy and Morphology of Permanent Maxillary Premolars among the Emirate Population using CBCT

Many types of research have revealed that root canal anatomy differs by race and country based on various national populations, but no study has been conducted on the UAE population.

Identifying the most common morphology of the upper premolars in a group of local and non-local people in the UAE.

Cone-beam computed tomography (CBCT) images of 215 intact maxillary premolars were analyzed. The Pearson Chi-squared test and the two samples t-test were applied.

Most of the maxillary first premolars were two-root formed (90%). Single-rooted teeth were less common (8%). Three-rooted maxillary first premolars represented a low frequency of 1.9%. Most of the maxillary second premolar teeth studied in this research (52%) had two roots. Almost all local and non-local populations had two canals for both first and second maxillary premolar. Only two maxillary first premolars (0.2%) had the three-canal morphology. The most frequent canal morphology in the maxillary first premolar group among local UAE and non-local was type V. The maxillary second premolar group among local UAE was type II (32%). In non-local UAE, type V (25%). In addition, six types of uncommon canal anatomic variants (types 1-2-3, 2-3-2, 3-2-1, 1-2-3-2, 2-1-2-1, and 3-2) were discovered in 3.7% of local UAE and 36.3% of non-local UAE.

The results suggest a more quantitative approach to maxillary first and second premolar access cavity preparation in the UAE population to prevent errors and iatrogenic damage when identifying the canals.