Root Canal Morphology of Primary Mandibular First Molar: A Systematic Review

Introduction: Pulp therapy procedures especially pulpectomy, aids in retaining the teeth in oral cavity. The complex morphology and pulp-periodontal intricacies insists the need for the understanding of internal pulp canal morphology to treat the primary teeth with dental caries and dental trauma which aids for efficient endodontic therapy.

Aim: To explore the root canal morphology of primary mandibular first molar in different ethnic population based on different diagnostic aids used.

Materials and Methods: Present systematic review was registered in PROSPERO database and was carried out from August 2021 till October 2021 including data from January 1970 to May 2021 by following PRISMA guidelines. Four electronic databases (Web of Science, Pub Med, Scopus, and Cochrane) were searched. In-vivo, in-vitro studies, comparative and evaluative studies have been included and studies mentioning anamolies, accessory canals and case reports all were excluded. Quality assessment was done by using Anatomical Quality Assessment tool (AQUA).

Results: Out of 215 studies, nine studies were retrieved and those investigated root canal morphology of primary mandibular first molar were included. Most predominantly two rooted primary mandibular first molar (99.9%) with four canals (81.25%) of straight morphology (>90% even 100% in few studies) showing root length of 6.4 to 9.4 mm exhibiting Vertuccis type I and IV, were reported to be prevalent.

Conclusion: Inspite of varying ethnicity most predominantly two rooted primary mandibular first molar with four canals of straight anatomy seems to be prevalent in all the included diagnostic techniques.