The relationship between the calcaneus density and aggressive Periodontitis

Objectives: The aim of this study was to evaluate the relationship between the calcaneus density and alveolar bone absorption of patients with aggressive periodontitis. Methods: Forty healthy volunteers and 40 patients with aggressive periodontitis were selected . Average age of two groups were both 20-35 years . Firstly, clinical periodontal index and panoramic films of all subjects were recorded. Then the broadband ultrasonic attenuation(BUA) of calcaneus was measured by using ultrasonic bone densitometer . Finally, the data were analysed by using SAS software package. Results: The BUA of all patients but two were significantly different from that in the healthy group. The alveolar bone loss highly correlated with BUA, and the Spearman rank coefficient was 0.7190, P=0.0001. Conclusions:The study demonstrates that the BUA of calcaneus of patients with aggressive periodontitis highly correlate with their alveolar bone loss.