Evaluation of Mental Index, Mandibular Cortical Index and Panoramic Mandibular Index on Dental Panoramic Radiographs in the Elderly Esin Hastara H. Huseyin Yilmazb Hikmet Orhanc AbstrAct Objectives: The aims of this study were to evaluate the influence of gender and dental status on the mental index, mandibular cortical index and panoramic mandibular index from dental panoram- ic radiographs in elderly who had osteoporosis or did not have osteoporosis. Methods: Panoramic radiographs of 487 elderly dental patients (age range 60-88 years) were evaluated. It were recorded osteoporotic status according to the patients’ medical anamnesis and values of the mandibular cortical index (MCI), panoramic mandibular index (PMI), mandibular corti- cal width (MCW) Results: Dental status was statistically significantly associated with the mandibular cortical width, panoramic mandibular index and the categories of MCI (P<.05). There were statistically differ- ent mandibular cortical width and panoramic mandibular index values in patients with osteoporosis and without osteoporosis (P<.05) Conclusions: Our study showed that there were statistically significant differences according to gender, dental status, and values of the MCW, MCI and PMI between patients with and those without osteoporosis. (Eur J Dent 2011;5:60-67) Key words: Panoramic radiography; Mandibular Cortical Index; Osteoporosis; Elderly. a Department of Oral Diagnosis and Radiology, Faculty of Dentistry, Gaziantep University, Gaziantep, Turkey. b Department of Oral Diagnosis and Radiology, Faculty of Dentistry, Suleyman Demirel University, Isparta, Turkey. c Department of Animal Science, Genetic and Biometry Unit, Faculty of Agriculture, Suleyman Demirel University, Isparta, Turkey. Corresponding author: Dr. Esin Hastar Gaziantep University Faculty of Dentistry, Department of Oral Diagnosis and Radiology, Sehitkamil, Gaziantep, Turkey. Phone: + 90 342 3610610 E-mail: dtesin@hotmail.com IntroducIno Osteoporosis is a disease characterized by low bone mass and micro-architectural deterioration of bone tissue, leading to bone fragility and en- hanced susceptibility to fractures. Osteoporosis is predominantly a condition of the elderly.1,2 It af- fects mostly women, especially after menopause as a result of estrogen withdrawal (“menopausal” osteoporosis).2 A major obstacle to combating os- teoporosis is the failure to identify individuals who have osteoporosis until the clinical consequences of osteoporosis have occurred (i.e., fractures form with little trauma to the bones). Thus, detection 60 European Journal of Dentistry