Our results suggest that panoramic radiography could be reliable in screening for osteoporosis.

Dentists may be able to refer postmenopausal women younger than 65 years for bone densitometry on the basis of incidental findings on dental panoramic radiographs.

Abstract-Tooth loss has been associated with an increased risk of vascular diseases such as coronary heart disease and cerebrovascular disease. Little is known whether hypertension is an important factor linking 2 phenomena in postmenopausal women. We compared an incidence of hypertension and traditional risk factors for vascular diseases between 2 age-matched groups: 67 postmenopausal women with missing teeth and 31 without missing teeth. In addition to blood pressure, serum concentration of total cholesterol, high-and low-density lipoprotein cholesterol and triglycerides, plasma angiotensin-converting enzyme activity, plasma angiotensin II concentration, plasma renin activity, and resting heart rate were measured as traditional risk factors for vascular diseases. Subjects without missing teeth had significantly lower diastolic blood pressure than did subjects with missing teeth (Pϭ0.021). The former tended to have lower systolic blood pressure than did the latter (Pϭ0.058). There were no significant differences in other variables between subjects with and without missing teeth. The odds ratio of having hypertension in subjects with missing teeth was 3.59 (95% confidence interval, 1.10 to 11.7) after adjustment of obesity, hypercholesterolemia, and hypertriglyceridemia. Our results suggest that hypertension may be an important factor linking tooth loss and an increased risk of vascular diseases in postmenopausal women.

Dentists may be able to refer postmenopausal women with suspected spinal osteoporosis for bone densitometry on the basis of dental panoramic radiographs with diagnostic performance similar to that of osteoporosis screening tools based on questionnaires.

Post-menopausal women with alterations of the mandible may have an increased risk for low vertebral BMD or osteoporosis.

Our results suggest that our computer-aided system may be useful for identifying postmenopausal women with low skeletal BMD.

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