Investigating the Prevalence of Extracted Maxillary First Premolars with Three Root Canals in Yazd in 2009

Detailed awareness of the root canal anatomy and configuration of the pulp canal is an essential and basic procedure in endodontic therapy. Root canals are left untreated because of the dentists' inability to identify them, particularly in the teeth that have anatomical variations or additional root canals. Therefore, the aim of this study was to investigate the prevalence of the extracted maxillary first premolars with three root canals in Yazd.

In order to conduct this descriptive cross-sectional study, 180 extracted maxillary first premolars were gathered from Yazd dental clinics. In fact, the teeth were first examined for the number of the roots. Then, the standard access cavity was prepared and, the number of canals was examined by endodontic probe and file. Moreover, the roots were horizontally sectioned at 3 different levels and types of canals were determined according to Vertucci ’s classification.

18 (10%) teeth had one root canal, 160 (88.9%) teeth possessed two root canals and only 2 (1.1%) teeth had three root canals. 35 (19.5%) teeth owned single root, and 143 teeth (79.4%) had two roots and only 2 (1.1%) teeth had three roots. The canal patterns were classified as type I (11.42%), type III (25.71%), type IV (60%), type VIII (2.85%) according to vertucci’s classification.

According to prevalence of multiple canals in maxillary first premolar teeth, precise examining of pulp chamber floor and taking radiographs in different angles are recommended.