A
project for a period of three years funded by the European Union found that dental X-rays could be used to detect osteoporosis, a depletion of bone disease.The researchers found that measuring the thickness of a portion of the lower jaw of a patient through a software developed by the team, dentists could easily identify the osteoporosis risk factors in men and women.
According to this study, osteoporosis affects almost 15% of Western women in their fifties, 22% in sixties and 38.5% in the seventy. 70% of women aged over 80 years present a risk.
The disease carries a high risk of bone fractures and the risk of osteoporotis fractures among men is almost as important than females.
Seizing the seriousness of the "silent epidemic" of osteoporosis, Member States have attempted to improve the identification of persons at osteoporosis risk factors. However, high costs and lack of equipment and specialized personnel make impossible any screening for the disease on a large scale.
Professor Keith Horner and Dr. Hugh Devlin of the University of Manchester have coordinated the project in collaboration with the universities of Athens, Leuven, Amsterdam and Malmo to develop an automated approach to detect the disease.
Researchers hope now that the X-ray equipment companies will seek to integrate software into their products so as to make it available for dentists. (CORDISNews)
