Bone mineral density
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Updated: May 30, 2026

Scanning Skeletal Remains for Bone Mineral Density in Forensic Contexts
Published on: January 29, 2018
Mariana Marquezan1, Thiago Chon Leon Lau, Claudia Trindade Mattos
1Pediatric Dentistry and Orthodontics Department, School of Dentistry, Federal University of Rio de Janeiro, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. marianamarquezan@gmail.com
Objective:
To verify whether bone mineral density (BMD) of cortical bone, trabecular bone, and total bone influence the primary stability of orthodontic miniscrews and to verify whether there is a correlation between the measurement of BMD by cone-beam computed tomography (CBCT) and central dual-energy x-ray absorptiometry (DEXA).
Materials And Methods:
Twenty bovine bone sections were extracted from the pubic and iliac bones from regions with cortical thicknesses of approximately 1 mm. The BMD of the total bone block was evaluated using two methods: CBCT and DEXA. The BMD of cortical, trabecular, and total bone in the region of interest (ROI) were also evaluated by CBCT. After scanning the bone blocks, 20 self-drilling miniscrews (INP®) 1.4 mm in diameter and 6 mm long were inserted into them. The peak implant insertion torque (IT) was registered. After this, the pull-out test (PS) was performed and the maximum force registered. The Pearson correlation test was applied to verify the correlations between variables.
Results:
The BMD of the total bone block verified by CBCT and DEXA showed a positive and strong correlation (r = 0.866, P = .000). The BMD of the ROI for cortical bone influenced the IT (r = 0.518, P = .40) and the PS of miniscrews (r = 0.713, P = .001, Table 2). However, the total bone BMD (verified by CBCT and DEXA) and trabecular bone BMD presented weak and not statistically significant correlations with primary stability.
Conclusions:
There was a positive correlation between total bone block BMD measured by DEXA and CBCT. The cortical BMD influenced the IT and PS.
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