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

Objective.The purpose of this study was to determine whether the morphologi c features of the trabecular bones of the maxilla and mandible differ betwe en 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 cu stom computer program measured morphologic features of the trabecular archi tecture, The mean values for each feature were determined for the osteoporo tic and control groups and compared by anatomic site. Results. Twenty-four morphologic features of the trabeculae and marrow regi ons were examined in each anatomical site. A principal components analysis summarized these predictors to four. The Hotelling T-2 test found that pati ents with osteoporosis had significantly altered morphologic pattern in the anterior maxilla (P = .019) and the posterior mandible (P = .013) in compa rison with the controls. A classification tree analysis separated all subje cts into 2 groups with 92% accuracy. Conclusions. The data support the hypothesis that patients with osteoporosi s have an altered trabecular pattern in the jaws in comparison with normal subjects.