Association between Dental Health and Osteoporosis: A Study in South Indian Postmenopausal Women

This study aims to objectively assess the dentition status in South Indian postmenopausal women and compare the dental health of osteoporotic participants with nonosteoporotic individuals.

A total of 150 consecutive ambulatory South Indian postmenopausal women (>50 years of age) were assessed for their dental health using an internationally validated scoring system. Bone mineral density (BMD) was assessed using a dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry scanner.

About 39% of the participants were found to have osteoporosis and 23% had osteopenia at any site. More than half of them (57%) had poor dental health, and the predominant problems were cavities (43.5%) and loss of teeth (75%). Among 112 women who had tooth loss, the mean tooth loss was 4.8. The mean tooth loss among patients with normal BMD was 1.09 ± 1.2, in osteopenia was 2.1 ± 2, and in osteoporosis was 5.4 ± 2.8 (P < 0.01). The odds of having osteoporosis among the patients with three or more tooth loss were found to be 4.2 (95% confidence interval = 2.4-7.3).

Postmenopausal women with osteoporosis had significantly higher number of tooth loss. Tooth loss may thus be used as a surrogate marker to predict osteoporosis.