Aim: In-vitro study was done to evaluate the incidence of MB2 canals using three different methods (CBCT, CLINICAL ANALYSIS AND DENTAL LOUPES) and to compare the efficacy of the three methods in identifying the incidence of MB2 canals in maxillary permanent first molars.
Materials and methods: The study sample consisted of 120 extracted intact permanent maxillary molars. These extracted teeth were subjected to CBCT. Later the teeth were access opened with naked eye to find the incidence of MB2 canal, and then the teeth were visualised under dental loupe to locate MB2 canal if they were missed under naked eye. Results was statistically analysed by Mc Nemar's tests with Bonferroni correction, Chi square test and Cochran's Q test.
Result: CBCT showed high incidence (68.3%) of MB2 canal in maxillary first molars and it showed to be a reliable method in detecting MB2 canal. When compared to dental loupe (52.5%) and naked eye (25%), the dental loupe improved the detection of MB2 canal.
Conclusion: Within the parameter of this study in detecting the incidence of MB2 canal, using CBCT dental loupes and naked eye, detection of MB2 canal was significantly higher with CBCT followed by dental loupe and least with naked eye.
Keywords: Cone-beam computed tomography; dental loupe; mesiobuccal 2 canal; naked eye.