The evaluation of the effect of long-term antihypertensive drug usage on bone density with dental volumetric tomography

TL;DR

This study investigates how long-term use of antihypertensive drugs affects bone density in men using dental tomography scans.

Contribution

The study introduces dental volumetric tomography as a novel method to assess bone density changes caused by antihypertensive drugs.

Findings

Long-term use of calcium channel blockers was linked to signs of osteoporosis in bone density measurements.

No significant bone density differences were found in patients using beta blockers or ACE inhibitors.

Radiomorphometric indices like DVT-CI and HU values were used to detect bone density changes.

Abstract

HT is a systemic disease that presents with persistent high blood pressure, which has become an important health problem due to its cause of serious complications and high prevalence in the community. Aim: This study aims to examine the bone mineral density (BMD) of male patients using different groups of antihypertensive drugs for long terms with dental volumetric tomography.

The study was carried out using the data of patients who applied to the Dicle University Faculty of Dentistry and underwent the Dental Volumetric Tomography (DVT) scan for any reason. The patients included in the study were divided into 4 groups according to their antihypertensive use; Group 1: 60 patients who never used hypertensive medication before, Group 2: 60 patients who received Calcium Channel Blocker treatment for over 5 years, Group 3: 60 patients who received Beta Blocker treatment for over 5 years, Group 4: 60 patients who received ACE inhibitor treatment for over 5 years. Radiomorphometric measurements were made on the DVT data and the DVT-Mandibular Index Inferior, DVT-Cortical Index, Hounsfield Unit-Cortical and Hounsfield Unit-Spongios values were calculated. The Kruskal-Wallis test, the Mann Whitney test with Bonferroni correction, the One-Way ANOVA and Post-Hoc Tukey test were used in the study.

A significant increase in DVT-CI and a significant decrease in HU-CORTIKAL, HU-SPONGIOS and DVT-MII values were observed in the patients using Calcium Channel Blocker medication. These findings pointed to osteoporosis. In addition, no statistically significant difference in the use of antihypertensive drugs in the Beta Blocker and ACE Inhibitor groups compared to the Control Group were found.

The long term use of Calcium Channel Blocker group antihypertensive drugs should be considered as a risk factor for osteoporosis in men.

Key words:Antihypertensive drug, Osteoporosis, Radiomorphometric index, Mandible, Dental volumetric tomography, Bone mineral density.

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