Association of bone mineral density with periodontal status in postmenopausal women

Menopausal changes expose an individual towards risk of various pathologies during midlife transition. This study aimed to investigate the possible association of bone mineral density (BMD) with periodontal parameters in early postmenopausal Indian women.

In 78 dentate postmenopausal female patients periodontal examination was performed including clinical attachment loss, pocket depth, plaque index and sulcular bleeding index. Alveolar crestal height was measured on proximal surfaces of all posterior teeth except third molars with the help of bitewing radiographs. Patient's BMD was assessed with dual energy X-ray absorptiometry. Statistical analysis was performed to assess the correlation between BMD and periodontal parameters.

Pocket depth, clinical attachment loss and alveolar crestal height were found to have negative and statistically significant (P = -0.000 each) correlation with T-score, with the value of Pearson's correlation coefficient being -0.474, -0.426, and -0.419 respectively. Number of teeth lost due to periodontitis was not significantly correlated with T-score (P > 0.05). Results of anova and the post-hoc Tukey test revealed a statistically significant difference of mean clinical attachment loss, pocket depth and alveolar crestal height for the osteoporotic versus osteopenic group and the osteoporotic versus normal group. However, between the osteopenic and normal group, the differences of mean were statistically nonsignificant (P > 0.05). Body mass index was found to have a weakly positive (r = 0.376) and statistically significant (P = 0.001) correlation with T-score.

Bone mineral density is an important risk indicator for periodontitis in postmenopausal women. Number of teeth lost due to periodontitis is not significantly affected by the BMD of the early postmenopausal phase.