Osteoporosis Detection on Panoramic
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Date
2010-09-01
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Journal of the Dental Association of Thailand
Abstract
Osteoporosis commonly in postmenopausal women often results in a fracture of their bone. Many patients with no previous diagnosis of osteoporosis had osteoporotic fracture. It is interesting that these women may receive dental treatment from dentists more frequently than visiting medical practitioners for the problem osteoporosis. If a dentist can take the greatest benefit from a panoramic radiograph, osteoporosis may be early detected. Then, the patient could be referred to a medical specialist in order to prevent the complications of osteoporosis. The purposes of this study were to review the role of panoramic radiograph in routine dental treatment for an initial evaluation of osteoporosis and to discuss the reliability and accuracy of reported panoramic indices. The review of literature found that mandibular bone thickness or porosity on panoramic radiograph can be divided into five indices; mental index, panoramic mandibular index, gonial index, antigonial index and Klemetti index. The sensitivity and specificity of these indices for osteoporosis diagnosis ranged from medium to high. These indices were repeatable and effective even in untrained general dental practitioners, and can be used worldwide. However, some studies suggested to use the panoramic radiograph along with other clinical examinations for the diagnosis of osteoporosis because there are several factors affect the diagnosis of osteoporosis including the quality of radiograph. In conclusionevaluation of mandibular cortical thickness or the shape of inferior cortex of the mandible measured from panoramic radiograph was a simple technique in osteoporosis screening of dental patients, giving the maximum benefit of being radiographed. All indices for detecting osteoporosis on panoramic radiograph are reliable, repeatable, and beneficial for dental patients. Therefore, dentists should be aware of these indices while interpretating panoramicradiographs.
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Journal of the Dental Association of Thailand; Vol. 59 No.4 October-December 2009; 213-221