A total of 34 human cadavers were dissected in this study of which 30 (88.2 %) were males and 4 (11.8 %) were females (male/female, 15:2) aged between 25 and 40 years. The linear distance between the MMLF and the inferior border of the mandible ranged from 11.03 to 19.62 mm (mean = 15.58 mm ± 2.12 SD). The mesio-buccal thickness of the mandible at the level of the MMLF ranged between 8.00 and 12.91 mm (mean = 10.89 mm ± 1.24 SD). The source of the artery entering the MMLF came from either a branch of the lingual artery (73.5 %, n = 25) or submental artery (17.6 %, n = 6), or their anastomotic branch (8.9 %, n = 3) (Figs. 1, 2, 3 and 4).

A Mann-Whitney U test did not elicit a statistically significant difference between males and females with regard to the distance from the MMLF to the inferior border of the mandible (Table 1) or the mesio-buccal width of the mandible at the level of the MMLF (Table 2). A Pearson product-moment correlation did not elicit a statistically significant association between distance from the MMLF to the inferior border of the mandible and mesio-buccal width of the mandible at the level of the MMLF (r (1) = 0.062, P = 0.803 (two-tailed)).