The nasomaxillary or septo-premaxillary crest

Abstract

The nasopalatine (incisive) canal of maxilla (NPC/IC) is commonly assigned a”Y” shape in coronal plane. The two upper arms of that canal are separated by an osseous piece that was indicated as nasomaxillary crest (NMC) in fetuses and is located on the course of the septo-premaxillary ligament. The NMC, or septo-premaxillary crest (SPMC), was not studied previously in human adults. It was therefore performed a Cone Beam Computed Tomography study on a retrospective lot of forty-one cases, ten males and thirty-one females. On coronal slices were found five types of NMC/SPMC: (a) type I – median, long NMC/SPMC, descending into the NPC (51.22%); (b) type II – inclined, long NMC/SPMC, descending into the NPC (2.44%); (c) type III – median, short NMC/SPMC, above the NPC (21.95%); (d) type IV – median, short NMC/SPMC, absent NPC (4.88%); (e) type V – inclined, short NMC/SPMC, absent NPC (19.51%). Seemingly, the NMC persists in adults as a distinct osseous structure on the course of the septo-premaxillary ligament and determines the variable patterns of the NPC/IC.