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Published on: June 18, 2020
Assessment of mandibular cortical index in patients with hepatic cirrhosis: A case-control study
Jefferson Rocha Tenório1,2, Marcus Vinícius Bueno1, Juliana Bertoldi Franco3
1Special Care Dentistry Centre (CAPE), Department of Stomatology of the University of São Paulo, School of Dentistry, São Paulo, SP, Brazil.
Aims:
To assess the presence of alterations suggestive of reduced bone mineral density (BMD) by using mandibular cortical index (MCI) in panoramic radiographs of cirrhotic individuals and to evaluate their relationship with other characteristics of hepatic cirrhosis (HC).
Methods And Results:
This is an observational case-control study assessing the medical records of 165 cirrhotic patients matched by sex and age with healthy individuals. MELD (model of end stage liver disease) score, etiology, complications, comorbidities, and serum levels of vitamin D were collected. MCI was used to obtain BMD. Binary logistic regression was used to test associations and the risk estimates were expressed in odds ratio. Most of the sample consisted of men (73.93%) with median age of 56 years old. In the study group, the mean value of MELD was 16.5 and hepatitis C was the main etiology of HC (33.9%). Cirrhotic individuals are 3.99 times more likely to present alterations suggestive of reduced BMD (p < .01). There was no statistical significance in the association of MCI with levels of vitamin D, comorbidities, etiology or cirrhosis complications.
Conclusions:
MCI suggestive of reduced BMD is more likely to be identified in panoramic radiographs of cirrhotic individuals than of healthy ones.
