Early detection of osteoporosis from incisure depth of human mandible in an orthopantomogram.

Objectives: To see the correlation between changes in incisure depth of mandible on an orthopantomogram with bone mineral density and whether or not it can be employed for screening and early detection of osteoporosis.

Method: The analytical cross-sectional study was conducted at the Institute of Basic Medical Sciences, Dow University of Health Sciences, Karachi, from December 2011 to July 2012. It comprised 174 female subjects between 25 and 85 years of age who were divided into premenopausal (Group I) and postmenopausal (Group II) groups. Group I and Group II were further subdivided into normal (pre A, post A), osteopenic (pre B, post B) and osteoporotic (pre C, post C) groups on the basis of Dual EnergyX-ray Absorptiometry scan. Changes in mandibular incisure depth seen on orthopantomogram in subgroups of Group I were compared with each other and with subgroups of Group II. SPSS 16 was used for statistical analysis. One-way Analysis Of Variance was applied to evaluate intra-group significance. For inter-group significance, independent samples t-test was applied.

Results: The depth of mandibular incisure was found to be significantly increased in osteoporotic patients (p < 0.05).

Conclusion: The simple screening tool can be employed for early detection of osteoporosis in a cost-effective manner.