(TC54) Expanding Diagnostics: CBCT as a Tool for Opportunistic Screening of Osteoporosis in Dentistry

Osteoporosis, a systemic skeletal disorder characterized by reduced bone mineral density (BMD), poses a considerable health risk, particularly for aging populations and postmenopausal women, as it significantly increases bone fracture susceptibility in turn leading to increased risk of morbidity and healthcare expenditures. While Dual-Energy X-ray Absorptiometry (DXA) remains the clinical gold standard for assessing bone mineral density (BMD), its application is primarily limited to specialized medical settings and is rarely incorporated into dental practice. Cone Beam Computed Tomography (CBCT), routinely employed in dental and maxillofacial imaging, presents a potential for opportunistic screening of osteoporosis by utilizing existing scans acquired for other diagnostic purposes.

Emerging evidence highlights a strong correlation between CBCT grayscale values and bone mineral density (BMD), presenting an opportunity to utilize CBCT as an adjunctive tool for osteoporosis screening. This table clinic aims to highlight the role of CBCT, image processing software, and greyscale values in identifying osteoporotic changes which can assist the dentist in identifying at-risk patients during routine dental procedures. By leveraging CBCT imaging data, dental professionals could play a pivotal role in facilitating early detection of osteoporosis and enabling timely medical referrals, potentially reducing the need for additional DXA scans. This dual-purpose approach not only supports dental diagnostics but also contributes to medical screening in a resource-efficient manner, thereby enhancing early diagnosis, improving patient outcomes, and mitigating the healthcare burden of undiagnosed osteoporosis