Is the panoramic mandibular index useful for bone quality evaluation?

PURPOSE The aim of this study was to determine whether the panoramic mandibular index (PMI) is useful for assessing bone mineral density. We also analyzed the potential correlations between PMI parameters and patient age. MATERIALS AND METHODS Four observers measured the PMI of both sides of the mental foramen using a picture archiving and communication system and images in the Digital Imaging and Communications in Medicine format. They studied 300 panoramic radiographic images of patients belonging to the following age groups: 40-49 years, 50-59 years, 60-69 years, 70-79 years, and 80-89 years. The observers were allowed to zoom in or out and to adjust the contrast of the images. Further, they were instructed to record the reasons for any measurements that could not be made. Then, we conducted a reliability analysis of the measured PMI and assessed the correlations between different patient age groups and the 3 parameters used for determining the PMI from the available data. RESULTS Among the 600 data items collected, 23 items were considered unmeasurable by at least 1 observer for the following 4 reasons: postoperative state, lesion, unidentified mental foramen, and alveolar bone loss. The intraobserver reproducibility of the measurable data was 0.611-0.752. The mandibular cortical width (MCW) decreased significantly as patient age increased. CONCLUSION PMI had limited usability when the margin of the mental foramen was not clear. In contrast, MCW, a parameter used for determining the PMI, had fewer drawbacks than the PMI with respect to bone mineral density measurements and exhibited a significant correlation with patient age.