radiographic evaluation of idiopathic osteosclerosis in patients referring to mashhad dental school from november 2002 to may 2004

introduction: idiopathic osteosclerosis is a common radiopaque lesion in the jaw bones, which is asymptomatic and usually detected accidentally in various radiographs. the purpose of this study was to determine the radiographic features of idiopathic osteosclerosis in the jawbones of patients referring to the maxillofacial radiology center of mashhad dental faculty. methods: in this descriptive study, panoramic radiographs of 300 patients ( 125 males, 175 females ) who had referred to the maxillofacial radiology department were evaluated for the presence of idiopathic osteosclerosis. the radiographic information included location, number, shape, size, relationship with teeth, pattern of density ( trabecular-cortical ) and demographic data ( age, sex ) and evidence of disease in the gastrointestinal tract and kidneys were also recorded . then data was analyzed using chi-square and t-student test. results : a total of 27 patients (9%), exhibited 40 foci of idiopathic osteosclerosis with different shapes and sizes (4 cm2 to 1/09 cm 2 ), most of which had well defined borders (65%) and trabecular density (62/5%) . the most common region for these lesions was in the mandible, especially in the second premolar (47/5%) and first molar (42/5%) regions and the majority had no connection to the teeth (57/5%). the lesions were most prevalent in the second decade of life (29/6%) followed by third and fourth decades. (25/9%) conclusion: the results of this study were the same as that of previous similar studies. in addition, chronic renal failure was seen in 1/3 of patients with idiopathic osteosclerosis .