Study of mandible bone mineral density of Chinese adults by dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry

The objective of this study was to measure the bone mineral density (BMD) of mandible and study the correlation between the BMD of the mandible and the lumbar vertebrae. 224 healthy volunteers were recruited in China and divided into 6 age groups: 20–29, 30–39, 40–49, 50–59, 60–69, and over 70 years. Dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry (DXA) was used to measure the BMD of the lumbar vertebrae and the mandible of each volunteer. The BMD of mandibular chin, mandibular angle and the lumbar vertebrae (L1–L4) was 1.3013 ± 0.2576 g/cm2, 1.0484 ± 0.1087 g/cm2 and 1.1195 ± 0.1373 g/cm2, respectively. The BMD of mandibular angle and lumbar vertebrae decreased significantly beyond the age of 50 years. There was a significant difference between males and females in the BMD of the mandibular angle and lumbar vertebrae in the 50–59, 60–69 and over 70 year age groups. The authors found that the BMD of mandibular angles correlates with that of lumbar vertebrae. This study suggests that measurement of mandible BMD could be used to predict osteoporosis.