Relationship Among Panoramic Radiography Findings, Biochemical Markers of Bone Turnover and Hip BMD in the Diagnosis of Postmenopausal Osteoporosis

Background/objective: recent investigations have shown that panoramic radiography mightbe a useful tool in the early diagnosis of osteoporosis. in addition, bone turnover biochemicalmarkers might be valuable in predicting osteoporosis and fracture risks in the elderly, especially inpost-menopausal women. the aim of the present study was to evaluate the relationship amongthe radiomorphometric indices of the mandible, biochemical markers of the bone turnover and hipbmd in a group of post-menopausal women.patients and methods: evaluations of mandibular cortical width (mcw), mandibular corticalindex (ci), panoramic index (pmi) and alveolar crest resorption ratio (m/m ratio) were carried outon panoramic radiographs of 140 post-menopausal women with an age range of 44-82 years.hip bmd was measured by dexa method. bmd values were divided into three groups of normal(t score>-1.0), osteopenic (t score, -2.5 to -1.0) and osteoporotic (t score<-2.5). serum alkalinephosphatase and 25(oh) d3 were measured.results: a decrease in mcw by 1 mm increases the likelihood of osteopenia or osteoporosis up to40%, having taken into consideration the effect of menopause duration. a 1 mm decrease in mcwincreased the likelihood of moderate or severe erosion of the lower cortex of the mandible up to28% by taking age into consideration. the results did not demonstrate a statistically significantrelationship between bone turnover markers and mandibular radiomorphometric indices.conclusion: panoramic radiography gives sufficient information to make an early diagnosisregarding osteoporosis in post-menopausal women. panoramic radiographs may be valuable inthe prevention of osteoporotic fractures in elderly women.