PERIODONTAL BONE LOSS TEETH WITH METAL POSTS - A RADIOGRAPHIC STUDY

Periodontal bone loss was compared in teeth with metal posts and contr alateral teeth without metal posts by means of intraoral radiographs. 250 subjects with a high standard of dental awareness and a great numb er of teeth retained were included in the study. The periodontal bone loss was calculated from the ratio of the distance from bone margin to apex (bone height) and the distance from crown tip to apex (tooth len gth). Intra-individual differences between experimental and control te eth were statistically analyzed with the Student paired t-test. 96 sub jects (38%) had greater than or equal to 1 teeth with root posts. In a ll, 172 teeth with posts were found, i.e., on average 1.8 teeth per su bject. The means+/-SEM of the ratio bone height to tooth length in exp erimental and control teeth were 0.52+/-0.007 and 0.56+/-0.006, respec tively. The difference was statistically highly significant (P<0.001). Statistically significant differences were found for incisors, premol ars and molars. Regression analysis indicated more severe bone loss fo r teeth with longer posts. The results suggest that the periodontal bo ne support of teeth with metal posts is inferior to that of teeth with out metal posts.