The Association Between the Severity of the Mandibular Inferior Cortex Porosity and the Number of Remaining Teeth in Elderly Indonesian People

Abstract

Background The purpose of this study was to investigate the association between the severity of the mandibular inferior cortex (MIC) porosity and the number of remaining teeth in elderly Indonesian people.Materials and methods This cross-sectional study was conducted by measuring secondary data on panoramic digital examinations of patients aged 50 years and older. A total of 428 panoramic radiographs were measured from January 2017 to December 2018. The number of remaining teeth (including the third molars) was evaluated. Mandibular porosity was measured by using panoramic radiographs, according to the MIC classification: normal; mildly to moderately eroded; and severely eroded cortex.Statistical analysis used Data analysis was done using Mann-Whitney nonparametric tests to verify the relationship between the MIC classification and the number of remaining teeth. Multiple linear regression analysis was performed to investigate the relationship between confounding variables.Results A significant correlation was found between MIC classification and the number of remaining teeth on the Mann-Whitney test (P < 0.001). Multiple linear regression analysis showed that MIC classification was significantly associated with the value of the number of remaining teeth after controlling for gender and age (β = -0.37, R2 = 0.22, P < 0.001). Subjects with MIC class 3 were 7.14 times more likely to lose their teeth than subjects with MIC class 1 or class 2.Conclusions Our study demonstrated that there was an association between the severity of mandibular inferior cortex porosity and the number of remaining teeth in elderly Indonesian people.