The correlation between age and mandibular bone quality based on panoramic radiographs

As someone ages, the bone quality may change and may be seen on mandibular bone. The changes in mandibular bone quality may be assessed using a panoramic radiograph. The aim of this study was to describe mandibular bone quality and to know the correlation between age and mandibular bone quality on panoramic ra-diograph. Methods: Cross sectional correlation analysis; the population was panoramic radiograph archives of patients in Dental Radiology Installation RSGM Universitas Padjadjaran within the range of age 13-59 years old when the radiograph was taken so that obtained 48 samples. The mandibular bone quality was obtained with man-dibular alveolar bone resorption index (MM ratio) method using EzPax-Plus software. Results: The highest ave-rage number of MM ratio was 2.384 and the lowest was 2.2856. The results showed correlation coefficient bet-ween age and MM ratio on right mandible calculated with Spearman’s rank (rs) was -0.046 (p-value=0.757) and rs=-0.058 (p-value=0.697) between age and MM ratio on left mandible. Conclusion: There is no correlation bet-ween age and mandibular bone quality on panoramic radiographs in RSGM Unpad based on MM Ratio.