The Importance of Dental Surgeon in Observing Bone Changes Characteristics of Osteoporosis in Panoramic Radiographies- Literature Review

Objectives: To clarify the importance of the dental surgeon in detecting the risk of osteoporosis through the detailed evaluation of panoramic radiographs.
Methods: Articles were researched related to the importance of early diagnosis of osteoporosis, which favors treatment and prevents bone fractures that can even lead to death. Once the dental surgeon, when assessing a patient’s image exam, is not limited to just observing the patient’s teeth, but expands their vision for bone evaluation, being able to detect images of cortical density loss of mandible base which is an indication of risk of osteoporosis, referring the patient to a specialized treatment.

Discussion: The articles based for study strengthen the importance of evaluating panoramic radiographs not for diagnosing osteoporosis, as the diagnosis is made through bone densitometry, but for the early detection of images that mean loss of mineral density, which may be observed on these radiographic exams.

Conclusions: It is concluded on this study that dental surgeons should be oriented about their role on the early diagnosis of osteoporosis, assessing the paciente as a whole, as the osteoporosis is a silent disease and when it is diagnosed in the beginning it has a favorable prognose avoiding several complications when it is discovered in advanced stage.

Keywords: osteoporosis, primary dental care, qualitative study, risk assessment.