Radiomorphometric indices of the mandible - an indicator of osteoporosis.

INTRODUCTION Osteoporosis is a regressive change which occurs in the bone and it is seldom diagnosed before the occurrence of fractures. Hence, determination of mandibular bone density is of paramount importance for the detection of this silent disease. AIMS AND OBJECTIVES The purpose of this study was to evaluate the influences of gender and age on the radiomorphometric indices and to assess the differences in the various indices, if any, between digital and analog radiographs. MATERIALS AND METHODS Two hundred and fifty six panoramic radiographs (128 digital and 128 analog) were obtained and they were grouped into 8 age groups which were between 21 to 60 years with 5 year intervals between them, with equal sex distributions. The mandibular cortical index (MCI), mental index (MI) and panoramic mandibular index (PMI) were analyzed. RESULTS C2 and C3 categories of MCI increased as age advanced in females. MI showed a significant difference in genders and MI Values decreased from younger to older females. PMI (p<0.05) was significant for both the genders. CONCLUSION This study showed that MCI, MI and PMI indices were useful for identifying patients with low skeletal bone mineral densities (BMD) or osteoporosis and that digital panoramic radiographs were better than analog radiographs for measuring the indices.