Uptake of 99mTe-Sn-EHDP in beagles with advanced periodontal disease.

Bone seeking radiopharmaceuticals were used in conjunction with skeletal imaging techniques to study bone mineral metabolism in beagle jaws. In beagles with chronic destructive periodontal disease, the tooth-supporting bone exhibited an increased uptake of technetium-99m-tin-diphosphonate when compared to control dogs. Scan images of soft tissue and vascular pools in the diseased jaws were normal. When quantitative densitometric data derived from bone scan images were compared, it was found that values reflecting radionuclide uptake in dogs with chronic destructive periodontal disease were six times greater than corresponding values in control dogs.