Table 5.

The location of the greater palatine foramen in relation to maxillary molars

	Total number of studies	Total number of subjects	Pooled prevalence (95% CI) [%]	Cochrane’s Q	I2 (95% CI) [%]	p value
Anterior to M2a	2	284	3.3 (0.5–20.3)	6.67	85.0 (58.5–94.6)	p = 0.0098
Opposite M2b	33	8852	5.0 (3.2–3.9)	371.78	91.4 (89.0–93.3)	p < 0.0001
Africa	4	980	6.2 (1.0–30.0)	10.86	72.4 (48.5–93.3)	p = 0.0045
Asia	23	4731	3.8 (2.2–6.3)	160.52	86.3 (80.9–90.7)	p < 0.0001
Europe	2	2800	16.0 (9.9–26.9)	3.68	72.8 (30.3–89.4)	p = 0.055
South America	2	162	4.3 (2.2–9.6)	1.05	5.0 (0.0–11.4)	p = 0.30
Between M2 and M3	37	9496	19.3 (15.3–24.0)	547.71	94.5 (93.2–95.6)	p < 0.0001
Africa	4	980	11.4 (2.9–35.6)	54.62	96.3 (92.5–98.2)	p < 0.0001
Asia	27	5366	20.6 (17.3–24.4)	155.95	86.5 (81.0–90.5)	p < 0.0001
Europe	3	2907	11.8 (5.9–22.1)	21.87	90.9 (77.5–96.3)	p < 0.0001
South America	2	222	18.1 (2.1–69.6)	32.83	97.0 (92.9–98.7)	p < 0.0001
Opposite M3	38	9754	64.9 (58.7–70.7)	610.61	94.8 (93.5–95.8)	p < 0.0001
Africa	4	980	49.5 (46.4–52.6)	76.94	97.4 (95.0–98.6)	p < 0.0001
Asia	27	5366	66.7 (65.4–67.9)	363.88	94.0 (92.4–95.6)	p < 0.0001
Europe	3	2907	74.7 (73.1–76.2)	0.21	0.0	p = 0.90
South America	3	322	65.8 (60.5–70.8)	33.96	94.1 (86.7–97.4)	p < 0.0001
Distal to M3	31	8608	6.0 (3.7–9.6)	1183.69	96.7 (96.1–97.3)	p < 0.0001
Asia	24	4841	7.7 (7.0– 8.6)	263.34	89.0 (84.5–92.2)	p < 0.0001
Europe	3	2907	2.4 (1.9–3.0)	10.93	81.7 (49.2–93.4)	p = 0.0042
South America	2	260	25.8 (20.8–31.4)	26.11	96.2 (90.7–98.4)	p < 0.0001

CI confidence interval, M2 second maxillary molar, M3 third maxillary molar

^aSubgroup analysis was not performed due to the low number of studies

^bTwo studies [28, 49] were excluded from the subgroup analysis because they were the only studies in their own respective subgroups