Anatomical Study of the Skull of the Adult Dogs and its Clinical Value During Regional Anesthesia

It had been reported that the domestication of dogs began in the late Paleolithic and Mesolithic period. Since, there is a lack of information on anatomical measurements of the skulls of dogs and its clinical value during regional anesthesia; the present work was taken. The investigation was carried out on nineteen mandibles and upper jaws from adult dogs aged between 4-8-year-old without any apparent skeletal disorders. Then, a total of seventeen skull measurements and indices were recorded. The skull length, cranial length, nasal length and cranial width were 17.6 cm, 11.2 cm, 6.38 cm and 7.5 cm respectively. Also, the cranial index was 66.37. In addition, the distances from the root of premolar tooth to infra-orbital canal and from the latter to the root of the canine tooth were 1.07 cm and 3.4 cm, respectively. The length and height of the mandibles were 12.7 cm and 6.5 cm, respectively. Furthermore, the distances from the lateral alveolar root to mental foramen and from the mental foramen to caudal mandibular border were 2.3 cm and 10.3 cm, respectively. In the current work, the distances from mandibular foramen to the base of mandible as well as from caudal border of mandible to below of the mandibular foramen were 1.1 cm and 1.3 cm, respectively. Also, the distances from the base of mandible to condyloid fossa and from the latter to the maximum height of mandible were 4.5 cm and 2.1 cm, respectively. Finally, the distance from caudal border of mandible to mandibular foramen and from the latter to mandibular angle were 0.97 cm and 0.93 cm, respectively. These data as important landmarks are discussed with regard to their application to clinical maneuvers around the head of the adult dogs such as regional anesthesia during treating head injury and dental extraction.