Radiological frequency of idiopathic osteosclerosis in patients referred to Qazvin Dental School (2009)

Background: Idiopathic osteosclerosis is a common radioopaque lesion of the jaw. This lesion is asymptomatic and usually discovered on different radiographs quite by accident. Objective: The aim of this study was to investigate the radiographic characteristics of idiopathic osteosclerosis in jaw bones in patients referred to Department of Radiology at Qazvin Dental School. Methods: This was a descriptive study performed on 820 panoramic radiographs of 325 male and 465 female patients referred to radiology department for variety of reasons. The radiographs, prepared by different methods, were examined for detecting idiopathic osteosclerosis. Information regarding each radiograph such as the location, number, structure, kind of relation to adjacent teeth, and density (trabecular-cortical) as well as the information on patients’ sex and age were registered. Using SPSS version 16, the desired frequency was calculated. Due to the descriptive nature of the study, no special statistical test was used. Findings: Of total radiographs, in 87 patients (10/61%), there were 97 idiopathic osteosclerosis lesions at different sites and shapes with demarcated border (50.52%) and trabecular density (54.52%). Of patients, 58.63% were females and 41.37% males. Most lesions were in the lower jaw especially in first (30.93%) and second molars region (24.75%) and frequently not associated with the adjacent teeth (35.05%). These lesions were more common in patients at their fourth and fifth decades of life. Conclusion: Based on our results it was revealed that the idiopathic osteosclerosis lesions are more frequent in lower jaw especially in molar areas and it is more common in women compared to men.