Korean J Oral Maxillofac Radiol.  2005 Sep;35(3):141-146.

Relationship between the morphologic features of alveolar trabecular bone and systemic osteoporosis

• Lee CJ
• Chang HS
• Lee BD

Abstract

PURPOSE
The purpose of this study was to investigate the preliminary use of morphologic operation (MO) in analyzing trabecular pattern of alveolar bone for the predicting systemic osteoporosis. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Study subjects consisted of 35 females (average age 48.5 years) and 25 males (average age 25.8 years). Bone mineral density BMD (grams/cm2) of lumbar spine and proximal femur of these subjects were measured by a dual energy X-ray absorptiometry (DEXA). Regions of interest (ROIs) were selected from the digitized periapical radiographs of subjects' posterior jaw. A custom computer program processed morphology operations of ROIs. We compared mean values of 11 MO variables according to the osteoporotic group divided by the T-scores of DEXA. We also studied correlation between radiographic density and these MO variables. RESULTS: The mean radiographic densities insignificantly correlated with MO variables. There were statistically significant differences among the values of 9 MO variables according to the osteoporotic group. CONCLUSION: Morphologic operation can be effective in analyzing trabecular pattern of alveolar bone for the predicting osteoporosis.

Keyword

Osteoporosis; Radiography; Jaw

MeSH Terms

Absorptiometry, Photon
Bone Density
Female
Femur
Humans
Jaw
Male
Osteoporosis*
Radiography
Spine