Is there a correlation between radiographic absorptiometry of the phalanges of the hand and radiomorphometric indices of the mandible?

Objectives: The aim of this study was to correlate the mandibular bone quality through radiomorphometric indices in panoramic radiograph with bone quality of non-dominant hand phalanges by radiographic absorptiometry phalanx (RA). Methods: The sample consisted of 167 patients (128 women and 39 men) with a mean age of 52.09 (± 11.5) divided into four groups according to RA test: (A) 92; (B) 36; (C) 25 and (D) with 14.9. A panoramic radiograph was taken of each patient and one observer made measurements of cortical thickness at the mental foramen (mental index, MI) and gonion (goniac index, GI) regions and fractal dimension (FD) analyze in mandibular ramus. In phalangeal radiograph was made measurements of cortical thickness at the intermediate (medial phalange index, MPI) and proximal (proximal phalange index, PPI) phalangeal. Results: The results showed correlation (p < 0.00037) between Klemetti index with RA. Variance analysis MI, GI, MPI, PPI shown significant differences (p < 0.05) between the two groups (normal and low bone mineral density - BMD). Area under the ROC curve was 0.74 (sensitivity = 97.4%, specificity = 78%) for MI, 0.79 (sensitivity = 94, specificity = 54%) for GI, 0.77 (sensitivity = 94.8%, specificity = 64%) for MPI, 0.76 (sensitivity = 93.1%, specificity = 62%) for PPI, 0.71 (sensitivity = 96.5%, specificity = 86%) for FD. Conclusions: Our results suggest that the analysis of radiomorphometric indices showed moderate accuracy for detecting changes in mandibular bone quality according to AR.