Morphologic study of the maxillary molars. 1. External anatomy.

The authors studied the external anatomy, root curvature and degree of root fusion of 744 maxillary first, second and third molars. The root lengths and root curvatures were quite similar on the first and second molars with their lingual roots curving toward the buccal on 54.6% and 52.3% of them, respectively. Complete separation of all three roots was observed on 86.4% of the first molars, 75.9% of the second molars and on only 18.8% of the third molars.