ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Aging
Sec. Musculoskeletal Aging
Volume 6 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fragi.2025.1589708
This article is part of the Research TopicExploring the Interplay of Aging, Obesity, and Oral Health in Elderly PopulationsView all 3 articles
Menopause-Related Changes to Maxillary Trabecular Bone Micro-Architecture
Provisionally accepted
- 1College of Dental Medicine, Columbia University Irving Medical Center, New York City, United States
- 2Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons, Columbia University Irving Medical Center, New York City, New York, United States
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The number of midlife women seeking orthodontic treatment has significantly increased over the past 40 years. With this rise, orthodontists need to consider the potential impact of menopause on treatment planning. There have been no recent published studies on maxillary trabecular bone changes in humans related to menopause. This study aimed to explore the subject further.This cross-sectional cohort study was composed of qualifying participants with diagnostic maxillary CBCT images who were separated by self report into pre- (N=21) and postmenopausal (N=19) groups. The regions of interest were the trabecular bone of the incisive foramen and maxillary tuberosity. All scans were converted into binary images in order to draw all parametric and ratio raw data. The parameters of interest included trabecular bone volume fraction (BVF), trabecular thickness, trabecular number, trabecular separation, and porosity. In the incisive foramen subgroup, postmenopausal women showed a significant increase in trabecular separation (0.60 ± 0.25 to 0.84 ± 0.31 mm, P <0.01) and significant decrease in trabecular number (0.77 ± 0.15 to 0.60 ± 0.18 1/mm, P <0.003). There was also a decrease in trabecular bone volume/tissue volume (BV/TV, P < 0.06). For the maxillary tuberosity subgroup, significant decreases in BV/TV (32.58 ± 15.85 to 17.63 ± 14.38 %, P <0.004), trabecular bone surface/tissue volume (2.66 ± 1.01 to 1.43 ± 1.09 %, P <0.001) and trabecular separation (0.91 ± 0.39 to 1.58 ± 0.51 mm, P <0.001) were observed.The findings reveal statistically significant differences in maxillary bone density at the level of the maxillary tuberosity and incisive foramen demonstrated in women who are of pre- versus post-menopausal status.
Keywords: Orthodontics, Maxilla, Bone Density, Menopause, Cone Beam Computed Tomography
Received: 07 Mar 2025; Accepted: 22 Apr 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Stein, Levit, Shah, Yin and Wadhwa. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Alexandra Stein, College of Dental Medicine, Columbia University Irving Medical Center, New York City, United States
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