The mental foramen is one of two holes ("foramina") located on the anterior surface of the mandible. It permits passage of the mental nerve

Mental nerve

Mental nerve is a general somatic afferent nerve which provides sensation to the anterior aspects of the chin and lower lip as well as the buccal gingivae of the mandibular anterior teeth and the premolars...

 and vessels. The mental foramen descends slightly in edentulous individuals.

Variations

The most frequent position (63%) of the mental foramen is in line with the longitudinal axis of the 2nd premolar tooth. Multiple mental foramina are observed in 17% of the sides. Only (4%) of the mandibles show bilateral multiple mental foramina. The majority of the multiple foramina are unequal in size: a single large foramen while the others are small (satellite) foramina. An incisive mental foramen is observed in 1% of the sideshttp://www.webcitation.org/query?url=http://www.geocities.com/akramjfr/mental_frmn.html&date=2009-10-25+12:10:19.

External links

• SUNY - lateral view
• SUNY - frontal view
• Diagram at uni-mainz.de