Diagnostic efficacy of panoramic mandibular index to identify postmenopausal women with low bone mineral densities

Objectives: The aim of the study was to compare and assess the accuracy of panoramic mandibular index (PMI) and antegonial index (AI) in the panoramic radiographs of postmenopausal women with normal and low skeletal bone mineral densities( BMD) diagnosed by using dual energy x-ray absorptiometry ( DXA). Study Design: In panoramic radiographs obtained from 40 post menopausal women( 20 normal and 20 osteoporo tic) aged between 50-75 who’s BMD has already been assessed by a DXA, the mean was calculated for PMI and AI index values measured in the right and left mandibles. The PMI and AI index values were evaluated using the student’s t test. The correlation between the observers for indices was calculated by Pearson correlation coefficient test. Results: A statistically difference was shown between the PMI values in the osteoporotic group and normal group (t = 13.280, p < 0.001); however, AI showed no significant difference between the groups. For PMI, the area under the receiver operating curve (ROC) analysis in identifying women with low BMD was 0.821 ( Standard error: SE = 0.0676), 95% confidence interval (Cl) = 0.668 to 0.924) which was moderately accurate. Conclusion: PMI values were found to be smaller among female patients with osteoporosis, compared with normal patients in the present study. Our results suggest that PMI has a better efficacy in identifying postmenopausal women with osteoporosis in comparison with AI