The Comparative Study on the Mental Index and Panoramic Mandibular Index in Thai Osteoporotic, Osteopenic, and Non-osteoporotic Patients: A Cross-sectional Study

Osteoporosis is one of the clinical problems in the elderly. Many previous studies focused on the index obtained from dental radiography as an adjunctive tool, which is considered beneficial for the screening of osteoporosis.

The purpose of this study was to compare the Mental Index (MI) and Panoramic Mandibular Index (PMI) acquired from panoramic radiographs in osteoporotic, osteopenic, and non-osteoporotic patients.

This research was approved by the Ethics Committee for Human Research, Srinakharinwirot University (certification number SWUEC-061/2562E). This study compared 150 osteoporotic patients undergoing treatment at the HRH Princess Maha Chakri Sirindhorn Medical Center with age-sex matched to 150 non-osteoporotic patients undergoing dental treatment at the Dental Hospital, Faculty of Dentistry, Srinakharinwirot University, using digital panoramic radiographs. MI and PMI were collected and analyzed using an independent T-test and Pearson correlation.

The mean age of the 300 participants in the study was 57.82±12.25 years, while the mean age of the osteoporotic and non-osteoporotic patients was 57.95±12.30 years and 57.69±12.19 years, respectively. The mean MI for osteoporotic patients and non-osteoporotic patients was 0.314±0.088 cm and 0.3840±0.073 cm, respectively. Similarly, the mean PMI for osteoporotic patients and non-osteoporotic patients was 0.302±0.092 and 0.342±0.064, respectively. A significant difference in MI and PMI was observed between osteoporotic and non-osteoporotic patients (p=0.00).

Osteoporosis has a statistically significant effect on MI and PMI (p<0.05).