Influence of Age and Gender on Mandible Among South Indian Population

The decrease of bone strength on ageing is a globally observed phenomenon among all human beings. The association between oral health and bone health has not been much researched among the Indian population. So, the proposed study was aimed to extract information about mandibular indices from dental panoramic radiographs and to identify its age and gender related changes among the south Indian population. The study involved 279 subjects, which included 103 men (46±11.55 years) and 176 women (47.2±12.49 years). The panoramic radiographs were obtained from a digital orthopantomogram scanner. The subjects were categorised into various decade age sub-groups for both the genders: 31-40, 41-50, 51-60, 61-70 and 71-80 years. The subjects were also further classified into three groups as: Normal, mild and severe based on the erosion of the endosteal margin of mandible cortical bone. The measurement of the Mandibular Cortical Thickness (MCT), Panoramic Mandibular Index (PMI) and assessment of the endosteal margin of the mandibular cortical bone was performed on the radiograph. The ANOVA test revealed a statistically significant difference for the MCT and PMI as (F = 6.98; p<0.001) and (F = 4.49; p<0.01) respectively between subjects of the various decade age sub-groups. The Chi-square tests revealed higher levels of significances (p<0.001) for the variations in the endosteal margin with age. The results of the study conclude that the MCT, PMI and the endosteal margin of mandible are age depended. The decrement of radiomorphometric indices was more prominent in females than males and they exponentially decreased after the sixth decade of age for both the genders. The MCT and PMI decreased by 6.41 and 4.8% respectively for males and by 23.2 and 30.8% respectively for females in the older groups.