Hastar, Yilmaz, Orhan The dental status was established and dentate normal in men over 60 years, the mean mandibu- individuals were classified according to the pres- lar cortical width values and panoramic mandibu- ence of mandibular molars. Those individuals hav- lar index values decreased significantly in women ing mandibular molars were classified as dentate, of the same age group. Dental status was statisti- whereas those without mandibular molars, but cally significantly associated with the mandibular with other teeth present, were categorized as par- cortical width and panoramic mandibular index. tially dentate. Three groups were created: 1) den- There was a significant difference for MCW and tate, 2) partially dentate (missing all mandibular PMI values according to dental status (Table 3). molars), and 3) edentulous. MCW and PMI values of edentulous patients were All data were analyzed using the Statistical significantly lower. Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS) V.17.0 Categories of MCI (C1/53.0%, C2/45.6%, (SPSS Inc. Chicago, Illinois, USA). Descriptive C3/1.4%) were detected. There was a significant statistics, cross-tabulations, and Chi-square sta- difference in the categories of MCI between men tistics were computed with the statistical signifi- and women. Category C1 was more frequently cance set at P<.05. seen in men; Category C2 was more frequently seen in women; and category C3 was observed rEsuLts only in women. Dental status was significantly dif- Of the 487 patients participating in the study, ferent according to the categories of MCI (Table 4). 239 (49.1%) were men and 248 (50.9%) were wom- Categories of MCI were determined accord- en. The mean age of the study population was ing to osteoporotic status. While category C1 was 67.93±6.07 years. Table 1 shows the gender and more frequently seen on patients without osteo- dental status characteristics of the study sample. porosis, category C2 was more frequently seen on Distribution according to gender and the number patients with osteoporosis (Table 5). of subjects with osteoporosis and without osteo- While the mean mandibular cortical width porosis was shown in Table 2. value was 2.88 mm on patients with osteoporosis, There was a significant difference between fe- this value was 3.70 mm on patients without osteo- males and males for MCW and PMI values. While porosis. The mean panoramic mandibular index mean mandibular cortical width values (normal value was 0.27 on patients with osteoporosis, and value: ≥ 3 mm as suggested by Devlin and Horner9) 0.32 on patients without osteoporosis. and panoramic mandibular index values (normal The number of osteoporotic patients who had a value: ≥ 0.3 as suggested by Benson et al15) were normal mandibular cortical width value (≥ 3 mm) Table 1. Characteristics of the sample. was less than the number of non-osteoporotic patients with a normal mandibular cortical width Characteristics n % value; but the number of non-osteoporotic pa- Gender tients with a subnormal mandibular cortical width Male 239 49.1 value was higher than the number of osteoporotic Female Dental status Dentate Partial Edentulous Gender Total Male Female January 2011 - Vol.5 Table 2. Distribution according to gender and the number of subjects with osteoporo- sis and without osteoporosis. With osteoporosis Without osteoporosis 248 57 322 108 50.9 11.7 66.1 22.2 n (%) 8 (6.3) 118 (93.7) 126 (25.9) n (%) 231 (64.0) 130 (36.0) 361 (74.1) Table 3. Mean (SD) mandibular cortical width (MCW) (mm) and panoramic mandi- bular index (PMI) values according to gender and dental status. MCW Mean (SD) 4.08 (0.86) 2.92 (0.97) 3.82 (0.98) 3.63 (1.06) 2.90 (1.02) PMI Median (Min-Max) 0.34 (0.12-0.51) 0.27 (0.07-0.52) 0.32 (0.12-0.52) 0.31 (0.07-0.51) 0.27 (0.07-0.51) Gender Male Female Dental Status Dentate Partially Dentate Edentulous 63 European Journal of Dentistry