Geibel Margrit-Ann, Turhani Dritan, Blasenbrey Tilmann, Beer Meinrad, Kildal Daniela
Dento-Maxillofacial Radiology, Department of Maxillofacial Surgery, University Hospital Ulm, 89070 Ulm, Germany.
Center for Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery, Department of Dentistry, Danube University, 3500 Krems an der Donau, Austria.
Diagnostics (Basel). 2025 Jun 25;15(13):1603. doi: 10.3390/diagnostics15131603.
: Osteoporosis is a widespread and chronic systemic bone disease that affects the jaws and teeth and, therefore, also dentistry. Osteoporosis can be diagnosed by different radiological methods. Dental cone beam computed tomography (CBCT) plays an important role in dentistry imaging. The aim of our retrospective pilot study was to find criteria in CBCT that point to the possible existence of osteoporosis. : Pilot study. The hard palate thickness (HPT) of the patients was measured at a defined location in the CBCT. Additionally, the CBCT images were presented to a radiologist for visual assessment. Both results were compared with the DXA measurements-as the "gold standard"-and patient history. : We found a consistent correlation between the visual assessments using established radiological criteria, including the new criterion of hard palate thickness (HPT), and the diagnosis of normal or pathological bone density. Secondly, for the HPT measurement all "pathologic" CBCT had an HPT of ≤0.9 mm, and all normal patients had an HPT of ≥0.9 mm. : Despite the small sample size, this CBCT pilot study showed a correlation between HPT and systemic bone disease. Therefore, as our main result, we found a new CBCT diagnostic criterion, which quickly and uncomplicatedly points to the possible existence of bone disease, especially osteoporosis. We propose HPT as a new criterion in the evaluation of CBCT images. A threshold of <0.9 mm may be indicative for osteoporosis or osteopenia, indicating a need for further evaluation.
骨质疏松症是一种广泛存在的慢性全身性骨病，会影响颌骨和牙齿，因此也与牙科相关。骨质疏松症可通过不同的放射学方法进行诊断。牙科锥形束计算机断层扫描（CBCT）在牙科成像中起着重要作用。我们这项回顾性试点研究的目的是在CBCT中找到指向骨质疏松症可能存在的标准。
试点研究。在CBCT的特定位置测量患者的硬腭厚度（HPT）。此外，将CBCT图像提供给放射科医生进行视觉评估。将这两个结果与作为“金标准”的双能X线吸收法（DXA）测量结果以及患者病史进行比较。
我们发现，使用既定放射学标准（包括硬腭厚度（HPT）这一新标准）进行的视觉评估与正常或病理性骨密度诊断之间存在一致的相关性。其次，对于HPT测量，所有“病理性”CBCT的HPT均≤0.9毫米，而所有正常患者的HPT均≥0.9毫米。
尽管样本量较小，但这项CBCT试点研究显示了HPT与全身性骨病之间的相关性。因此，作为我们的主要结果，我们发现了一种新的CBCT诊断标准，该标准能快速且简便地指出骨病尤其是骨质疏松症的可能存在。我们建议将HPT作为评估CBCT图像的新标准。<0.9毫米的阈值可能提示骨质疏松症或骨质减少，表明需要进一步评估。
