Osteología: relevancia de conceptos médicos en el ámbito odontológico

Cavities and periodontal diseases have a very high prevalence worldwide. Similarly, osteoporosis, another disease affecting bones, will continue to increasing because of the so called «reversal of the demographic pyramid».

Bone and teeth are both anatomical and functional related. Therefore, it is worth determining, among many other aspects, whether osteoporosis also affects the maxilla and mandibular bones, in the same way as in the long bones, especially those of post-menopausal women.

If so, the pharmacological therapy most widely used in the world, bisphosphonates, could also work in maxilla and mandibular bones and then would allow dentists to focus not only on reporting epidemiological and etiopathogenic data on its potential adverse effect: «bisphosphonate-related osteonecrosis of the jaw» (BRONJ).

Consequently, Osteology and Odontology could share more than one common issue, as well in the physiological as in the pathophysiological field.