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Dental Tribune Middle East & Arica Edition

By using dental X-rays, the risk of fractures can now be pre- dicted long before a fracture actually occurs, Swedish re- searchers at the University of Gothenburg’s Sahlgrenska Academy have found. In a previous study, re- searchersattheAcademyandthe Public Dental Service of the Re- gion Västra Götaland had demonstrated that a sparse bone structure in the trabecular bone in the mandible is linked to a greaterprobabilityofhavingpre- viously had fractures in other parts of the body. The Gothenburg researchers followedthisresearchwithanew study that demonstrates that it is possible to use dental X-rays to investigate the bone structure in the lower jaw, which enables doctors to predict who is at greater risk of fractures in the fu- ture. “We have discovered that sparse bone structure in the lower jaw in mid-life is directly linked to the risk of fractures in other parts of the body later in life,” said Prof Lauren Lissner, researcher at the Institute of Med- icine at the Sahlgrenska Academy. The studydrawsondatafrom The prospective population study of women in Gothenburg, which was begun in 1968. “Given that this study has now been run- ning for over 40 years, the mate- rial isgloballyunique,”theAcad- emy stated. The ongoing study in- cludes 731 women, who have beenexaminedonsev-eralocca- sionssince1968,whentheywere 38to60yearsold.X-rayimagesof their jaw bone were analysed in 1968 and 1980 and the results re- lated to the inci- dence of subse- quent fractures. “The youngest cohort is now over 80 years old. Many of the cohorts, who were born earlier, have died. We regu- larly check the cohorts’ status by monitoring the mortality and hospital reg- istries,” AccordingtotheAcademy,for the first 12 years, fractures were self-reported during follow-up exami- nations. It is only since the 1980s that it has been pos- sible to use medical registers to identify fractures. A total of 222 fractures were identified during the whole observation period. The study found that the bone structureofthejawwassparsein around 20 per cent of the partici- pants aged 38 to 54 when the first examination was carried out, and that these participants were at a significantly greater risk of fractures. The researchers also con- cluded that the older the person, the stronger the link between sparse bone structure in the jaw andfracturesinotherpartsofthe body.Althoughthestudywascar- ried out on women, the re- searchers believe that the find- ingscouldbegeneralisedtomen. “Dental X-rays contain lots of information on bone structure,” said Grethe Jonasson, re- searcher at the Research Centre of the Public Dental Service in Västra Götaland, who initiated the fractures study. “By analysing these images, dentists can identify people who are at greater risk of fractures long be- fore the first fracture occurs.” ThestudyAprospectivestudy of mandibular trabec- ular bone to predict fracture incidence in women was published in the Oc- tober issue of the Bone journal. Trends & Applications DENTALTRIBUNE Middle East & Africa Edition4 UAE - GBOI I1st Session ( 1st - 2nd June 2012 ) - One Year Curriculum 2012-2013 - 200 C.E. Hours (Continued Education) - Certified by Implantology German Board The First Step to MSc Implantology - Total of 8 weekends - Full accepted and part of the MSc Implantology at Münster University Please submit your application to: International o ce of DGZI in Dubai www.dgzi-international.c o m Att: Mr. Flavio Moscardo Jafza View Lob 19 Of. 1301 Dubai - UAE - P.O. Box 261901 Tel: +971 (0) 48855404 Ext. 304/305 Fax:+971 (0) 48855405 Mob: +971 (0) 559250844 E-mail: flaviomoscardo@hotmail.com NNOOWW IINN UU..AA..EE!!!!!! JJOOIINN OOUURR TTEEAAMM!!!!!! VVIISSIITT UUSS AATT AAEEEEDDCC BBOOOOTTHH ## 559999 AD Dental X-rays can predict fractures Fig. 1_Reference images presenting the trabecular pattern as dense tra- beculation in a woman with small in- tertrabecular spaces ... Fig. 2_... mixed dense plus sparse tra- beculation in a woman with small in- tertrabecular spaces cervically and larger spaces more apically ... Fig.3_...andsparsetrabeculationina woman with large intertrabecular spaces.