Mandibular cortical width on panoramic images of children in the Lao people’s Democratic Republic

The purpose of this study was to determine correlations between height and weight with mandibular cortical width (MCW) that may aid identification of bone mineral density (BMD) in a pediatric population. A total of 122 patients (69 boys and 53 girls) aged 4 to 6 years old who were patients at the Dental Hospital of Faculty of Dentistry (UHS, Lao P.D.R.) participated in the study. Anthropometric data of height and weight were recorded. Digital panoramic radiographs were taken and transferred to Nihon University, Tokyo via telemedicine system. MCW was measured using a SDS-DICOM viewer application. The Mann-Whitney U test was performed to analyze MCW gender differences. Tukey - Kramer method was performed to determine means of MCW, Height, Weight between each age group. The Pearson’s correlation test was performed to analyze the correlation between MCW and Height or Weight. P values less than 0.05 were considered statistically significant. The range of MCW were between 1.40-3.03 mm in males and 1.68-2.80 mm in females, with no sexual differences. As age increased, each parameter (MCW, Height, Weight) increased, but no significant difference between age groups was detected in MCW. There were positive significant correlations between height and MCW, but not between weight and MCW. This pilot study has shown that MCW does not appear to be a useful indicator for the diagnosis of hidden children osteogenesis. Further studies are needed to examine if other panoramic radiomorphometric indices could be more relevant.