Assessment of the blood supply to the mental region for reduction of bleeding complications during implant surgery in the interforaminal region

Several life-threatening complications caused by hemorrhage that can occur during the placement of dental implants in the mandibular interforaminal re gion have been described in the literature. The aim of this study was to as sess the vascular supply to this region and delineate the relative contribu tion and importance of the sublingual artery versus the submental artery. T hirty-four human cadavers were dissected. Special attention was directed to the presence of a branch of the submental artery that perforates the myloh yoid muscle and thus participates in the blood supply to the floor of the m outh together with the sublingual artery. A sublingual artery was found in 71% of the specimens. A large branch of the submental artery perforating th e mylohyoid muscle was found in 41% of the specimens. The point of perforat ion was located an average of 31 mm posterior to the menton. The high risk of injuring the vessels of the floor or the mouth can be explained by the c lose vicinity of these vessels to the mandibular lingual cortical plate. To prevent complications in cases of unclear anatomic identification of the f ossa sublingualis, preoperative lingual probing or elevation of the periost eum of the lingual aspect of the mandible is necessary. An alternative diag nostic procedure is precise preoperative noninvasive imaging (eg, computed tomography).