Osteoporosis in Dental Practice

It is very significant to know the bone quality of the jaws and structural changes in bone for treatment planning and prognosis in dental practice. It is also important to have detailed information about the bone structure (density, trabeculation, quality, volume) for avoiding surprises during dental surgical procedures including dental implant surgery, graft applications, endodontic surgery, periodontal surgery. Osteoporosis is one of the diseases that cause low bone quality. It is a chronic, systemic, metabolic bone disease that affects the individual's quality of life. The earliest suggestion of an association between osteoporosis and oral bone loss was made in 1960. Osteoporosis-related changes in the jaw-bones are not different from the other bones of the body. It was known that oral bone loss to be a part of common skeletal osteoporosis and planned osteoporosis therapy to be effective in the prevention of oral bone loss. The effects of osteoporosis on the jaw-bones can be summarized as, decrease in bone mineral content and density, deterioration of trabecular structure, increased remodelation rate and osteoblastic activity, reduction in residual bone volume and cortical bone thickness.