The measurements were taken using AutoCAD software (version 2006; Autodesk, San Rafael, CA, USA), which allowed the measure of straight lines and angles between the different anatomical reference points in the radiograph.
For the distances measured from the center of the MF to adjacent anatomical reference points, on the right side the mean distance to the inferior margin of the mandible (D1) was 11.87 [+ or -] 1.46 mm; to the midline (D2) it was 24.46+2.99 mm and to the height of the apices (D3) it was 5.03 [+ or -] 8.44 mm.