There may be a significant association between decayed, missing, and filled teeth (DMFT) index scores and a bone mineral density (BMD) diagnosis, according to a study published in BMC Oral Health.
Furthermore, this difference may be most evident in patients with osteoporosis, the authors wrote.
"Primary osteoporosis may correlate with dental health status," wrote the authors, led by Rahime Zeynep Erdem of the Afyonkarahisar Health Sciences University in Turkey.
This cross-sectional observational study included 224 men and postmenopausal women ages 50 to 80. BMD scores for the lumbar spine, femoral neck, and total hip were classified and grouped as normal, osteopenia, or osteoporosis following World Health Organization criteria.
Oral health was evaluated using the DMFT index and oral hygiene index-simplified (OHI-S) scores. Participants were grouped based on the number of surviving teeth, with low (< 20) and high (≥ 20) categories, they wrote.
The researchers found a statistically significant association between DMFT index scores and BMD diagnosis (F-statistic = 8.125, p < 0.001). The difference was most pronounced in the osteoporosis group compared to the other two groups. DMFT index scores were highest in the osteoporosis group (18.69) and lowest in the normal group (14.08, p < 0.001).
While the number of remaining teeth was lower in the osteoporosis and osteopenia groups than in the normal group (p < 0.001), the osteopenia group had a count closer to the normal group but significantly higher than the osteoporosis group. The group with the fewest remaining teeth also had lower total hip T-scores and significantly higher DMFT index scores (p < 0.001), they wrote.
However, the study had limitations. DMFT index reflects lifetime oral health, therefore its correlation with BMD may not fully account for dental decay experienced in childhood and early adulthood, the authors added.
"Tooth loss and dental decay rates were significantly high in patients with osteoporosis," they concluded.
