Objective: Using cone beam computed tomography (CBCT) images, the aim of the study was to evaluate the usefulness of measuring bone density of mandibular condyle (BDMC) in patients at risk of osteoporosis.
Materials and methods: Two hundred and four mandibular condyles (46 condyles from males and 158 condyles from females) were examined by CBCT. Using inVivo software (Anatomage, San Jose, Calif), BDMC and mental index (MI) were measured by two observers and correlated using Pearson's correlation coefficients. Patients were divided into high risk and low risk of osteoporosis using 3.1 mm of MI as a cutoff value, and the mean value of BDMC was compared and correlated using independent samples t-test and regression analysis. Receiver-operating characteristic (ROC) curve analyses were also used to examine the predictive power of BDMC.
Results: The mean value of BDMC was moderately correlated with MI (r = 0.38), and in female patients at low risk of osteoporosis, the mean value of BDMC was significantly higher than in patients at high risk of osteoporosis. In multivariate linear regression analysis, being at risk of osteoporosis is significantly affected by BDMC, age, and gender. ROC analysis showed that the mean value of BDMC had a moderate predictive power for predicting patients at risk of osteoporosis (area under the curve = 0.621 for females and 0.649 for males).
Conclusions: Measuring BDMC is considered useful in predicting patients at risk of osteoporosis.
Keywords: Bone density; cone beam computed tomography; mandibular condyle; osteoporosis.