Usefulness of panoramic radiography in the diagnosis of postmenopausal osteoporosis in women. Width and morphology of inferior cortex of the mandible

To evaluate the usefulness of width and morphology of the inferior cortex of the mandible on panoramic radiographs in the diagnosis of postmenopausal osteoporosis. The width and morphology of the mandibular inferior cortex on panoramic radiographs were compared with trabecular bone mineral density (TBMD) of the 3rd lumbar vertebrae (L3) measured by dual energy quantitative computed tomography in 29 premenopausal and 95 postmenopausal women. There was a significant negative correlation between the width (Kendall's tau = -0.36, p < 0.001) and morphology (Kendall's tau = -0.49, p < 0.001) of the mandibular inferior cortex and the L3 TBMD. Regression analysis showed that significant linear relationships were observed between the L3 TBMD and age (p < 0.001), cortical width (p < 0.05), morphology (p < 0.05), controlling body mass index, number of teeth present and menopausal status (R2 = 0.42). Our results suggest that panoramic radiography could be reliable in screening for osteoporosis.