ABSTRACT
Objective:To evlauate the mandibular bone mineral density(BMD) in postmenopausal osteoporotic(PMO) women by cone beam CT(CBCT) and to explore its clinical application.Methods:The BMD of the lumbar vertebrae and mandibular bone of 45 postmenopausal women was examined and calculated by dual energy X-ray absorptiometry(DXA) and CBCT respectively.The subjects were grouped by BMD value of lumbar vertebrae (PMO group,T ≤-2.5;healthy control group,T ≥-1.0).Correlation of CBCT indexes CTI (S),CTI(I) and CTMI with DXA index BMD was analyzed.Results:26 subjects were grouped into PMO (BMD =0.623 ± 0.056) and 19 into healthy control(BMD =0.973 ± 0.055)(P ＜ 0.05).The mandbular BMD in PMO and control groups was 0.776 ± 0.133 and 0.850 ± 0.122 (P ＞ 0.05) respectively.In PMO group all the CBCT indexes of mandibular bone were higher than those in the control group (P ＜ 0.05),no correlation was found between the CBCT indexes and BMD (P ＞ 0.05),while the CBCT indexes of the lumbar vertebrae were positively correlated with the BMD (P ＜ 0.05).Conclusion:CBCT is more sensitive than DXA in the assessment of mandibular BMD in PMO subiects.