This resorption can occur to such an extent that the mental foramen is virtually on the superior border of the mandible, instead of opening on the anterior surface, changing its relative position.
12.
The mandibular incisive canal ( indicated here by coral green arrows ) continuing anteriorly ( to the right ) from the mandibular canal ( purple arrows ) after the mental foramen ( light green circle)
13.
Below the second premolar tooth, on either side, midway between the upper and lower borders of the body, is the mental foramen, for the passage of the mental vessels and nerve.
14.
There is a masseteric scar ( associated with the jaw muscles ) from below the m1 forward to a point in front of p4, below the mental foramen, an opening in the jawbone.
15.
Anteriorly, the nerve gives off the mental nerve at about the level of the mandibular 2nd premolars, which exits the mandible via the mental foramen ( supplying sensory branches to the chin and lower lip ).
16.
On arriving at the incisor teeth, it turns back to communicate with the mental foramen, giving off a small canal known as the mandibular incisive canal, which run to the cavities containing the incisor teeth.
17.
The mental foramen is very small and opens in the diastema, near the ventral shelf of the scar; in " Apeomys " and " Megapeomys " it is located near the dorsal shelf.
18.
The mandibular canal is of large size and runs near the lower border of the bone; the mental foramen opens beneath the socket of the first deciduous coronoid process is of comparatively large size, and projects above the level of the condyle.
19.
One branch of it, the inferior alveolar nerve as well as the inferior alveolar artery enter the foramen traveling through the body in the mandibular canal and exit at the mental foramen on the anterior mandible at which point the nerve is known as the mental nerve.
20.
Ossification takes place in the membrane covering the outer surface of the ventral end of Meckel's cartilage ( Figs . 178 to 181 ), and each half of the bone is formed from a single center which appears, near the mental foramen, about the sixth week of fetal life.
