Comparison of morphological measurements extracted from digitized dental radiographs with lumbar and femoral bone mineral density measurements in postmenopausal women

Background: We set out to determine whether morphologic measurements extrac ted from digitized images of bite-wing radiographs correlated with lumbar a nd femoral bone mineral density (BMD) measurements in 45 postmenopausal wom en who had no or only mild periodontal disease (no probing depths >5 mm). Methods: Lumbar spine and femoral BMDs were determined by dual-energy x-ray absorptiometry. Vertical bite-wing radiographs were taken and digitized. C restal and apical regions of interest (ROIs) were drawn on the digital imag es of the maxillary and mandibular alveolar bone on the patient's right and left sides. For each patient, a single morphologic measurement was made fo r each of 8 ROIs. Correlation analysis was performed to determine the stren gths of the relationships between the morphologic measurements made at the 8 locations and between these morphologic measurements and BMD measurements . Results: The correlations (r) between the morphologic operator (MO) measure ments and lumbar spine and femoral BMDs were weak (mean r = 0.02, range = 0 .32 to -0.26) and not statistically significant, with no clear trends disce rnible. Correlations between MO measurements made at the 8 alveolar sites w ere also weak (mean r = 0.05, range = 0.35 to -0.38) and not statistically significant. Conclusions: The MO measurements used in this study were weakly correlated with lumbar spine and femoral BMDs, with no clear trends discernible in thi s population of postmenopausal women with no or mild periodontal disease.