BACKGROUND: It has been suggested that poor dental status may be a suitable criterion for bone densitometry referral in early postmenopausal @entity1 . We evaluated this hypothesis in a cohort of 1365 Caucasian @entity1 aged between 45 and 59 years, who were enrolled into an international multi-centre trial. METHODS: Subjects were recruited at four study centres, using population-based techniques. @entity79 ( @entity79 ) at the lumbar spine and proximal femur was measured by dual energy x-ray absorptiometry (DXA) (Hologic QDR 2000). A full physical examination was performed including a tooth count. RESULTS: Baseline tooth counts ranged from 0 to 32 (median 26): 84 (6%) subjects were edentulous. When classified according to the WHO criteria 445 (33%) of the subjects were @entity3604 at one or more of the skeletal sites analysed; 694 (51%) were @entity6092 , and 226 (16%) were normal. Adjusting for confounding variables, there was no significant correlation between tooth count and @entity79 at any skeletal site. Subjects were divided into tertiles of tooth count, and chi2 tests used to compare the two 'extreme' groups against the WHO criteria for @entity79 . At each of the six @entity79 regions the proportion of subjects with normal, @entity6092 or @entity79 was similar for both tertiles. CONCLUSIONS: We found no relationship between tooth count and @entity79 in early postmenopausal @entity1 . This may be because in younger @entity1 dental status is a reflection more of dietary habits and past dental surgery than of age-related @entity604 . Tooth counts therefore cannot be used to identify individuals at risk of @entity170 .

Tooth counts do not predict bone mineral density in early postmenopausal Caucasian XXXX . EPIC study group.

@entity1 :: ('9606', 'Species') :: ['women'] @entity3604 :: ('MESH:D058866', 'Disease') :: ['osteoporotic'] @entity604 :: ('MESH:D016301', 'Disease') :: ['bone loss'] @entity170 :: ('MESH:D010024', 'Disease') :: ['osteoporosis'] @entity79 :: ('MESH:D001847', 'Disease') :: ['Bone mineral density', 'BMD', 'osteoporotic BMD'] @entity6092 :: ('MESH:C567172', 'Disease') :: ['osteopenic']
@entity1 :: (9606,Species) :: ['women']
