Background: The aim of this systematic review was to evaluate the assessment of trabecular bone patterns in dental radiographs, for fracture risk prediction, compared with the current diagnostic methods.
Methods: The PRISMA guidelines were followed. According to predefined inclusion criteria (PICO), literature searches were focussed on published studies with analyses of trabecular bone patterns on intraoral and/or in panoramic radiographs, compared with Dual X-ray Absorptiometry (DXA) and/or Fracture Risk Assessment Tool (FRAX), with the outcomes; fracture and/or sensitivity and specificity for osteoporosis prediction. The included studies were quality-assessed using the QUADAS-2 tool and the certainties of evidence was assessed using the GRADE approach.
Results: The literature searches identified 2913 articles, whereas three were found to meet the inclusion criteria. Two longitudinal cohort studies evaluated the use of trabecular bone patterns to predict bone fractures. In one of the studies, the relative risk of fracture was significantly higher for women with sparse bone pattern, identified by visual assessment of dental radiographs, and in the other study by digital software assessment. Visual assessment in the second study did not show significant results. The cross-sectional study of digital analyses of trabecular bone patterns in relation to osteoporosis reported a sensitivity of 0.70 and a specificity of 0.69.
Conclusion: Based on low certainty of evidence, trabecular bone evaluation on dental radiographs may predict fractures in adults without a prior diagnosis of osteoporosis, and based on very low certainty of evidence, it is uncertain whether digital image analyses of trabecular bone can predict osteoporosis.
Keywords: Cancellous bone; dental radiography; osteoporosis; skeletal fracture; systematic review.