Discuss mental nerve, its anatomic variation and surgical importance.

Mental nerve, branch of inferior alveolar nerve is a very important landmark during osteotomy procedures. An anatomic variation of this nerve is the presence of an anterior loop which can be felt at the mesial aspect of the foramen. Therefore, the anterior loop should be verified by surgical exposure of the mental foramen or with a CT scan to avoid mental nerve injury when placing implants medial to the foramen. However, it should be differentiated from the incisive branch of inferior alveolar nerve which also exits at the mesial end of the mental foramen.