Mandibular atrophy and metabolic bone loss: endocrinology, radiology and histomorphometry

In 11 edentulous patients with a severe atrophy of the mandible and submitted for ridge augmentation, endocrinological, radiological and histomorphometrical studies were carried out. The results showed that metabolic bone loss, histologically in nearly all patients characterized as a disturbance in mineralization and endocrinologically in 55-73% of the patients as a secondary hyperfunction of the parathyroid glands, plays a rôle in the etiology of mandibular atrophy.