Alterations of the trabecular pattern of the jaws in patients with osteoporosis

Objective.The purpose of this study was to determine whether the morphologic features of the trabecular bones of the maxilla and mandible differ between patients with osteoporosis and normal controls. Study design. Periapical radiographs, obtained from dentists of 11 patients with osteoporosis and 12 control subjects, were digitized at 600 dpi. A custom computer program measured morphologic features of the trabecular architecture, The mean values for each feature were determined for the osteoporotic and control groups and compared by anatomic site. Results. Twenty-four morphologic features of the trabeculae and marrow regions were examined in each anatomical site. A principal components analysis summarized these predictors to four. The Hotelling T-2 test found that patients with osteoporosis had significantly altered morphologic pattern in the anterior maxilla (P = .019) and the posterior mandible (P = .013) in comparison with the controls. A classification tree analysis separated all subjects into 2 groups with 92% accuracy. Conclusions. The data support the hypothesis that patients with osteoporosis have an altered trabecular pattern in the jaws in comparison with normal subjects.