Effect of estrogen use on tooth retention, oral bone height, and oral bone porosity in Japanese postmenopausal women.
OBJECTIVE
Recent studies in the United States support the protective effect of estrogen use on tooth retention; however, little is known as to how estrogen promotes tooth retention. The aims of this study were to investigate the effects of estrogen use on tooth retention, oral bone height, and oral bone porosity in Japanese postmenopausal women and to clarify how estrogen promotes tooth retention.


METHODS
Relationships among the number of teeth remaining (total, anterior, and posterior teeth), oral bone height, oral bone porosity, bone mineral density of the lumbar spine and the femoral neck, estrogen use status, and the duration of estrogen use were evaluated in 330 Japanese postmenopausal women (mean age +/- SD, 56.8 +/- 7.6 y).


RESULTS
Analysis of covariance adjusted for confounding variables revealed that estrogen users (66 women) tended to have more posterior teeth than did nonusers (264 women) (P = 0.065), although there were no significant differences in number of total (P = 0.196) and anterior (P = 0.751) teeth remaining, oral bone height (P = 0.970), oral bone porosity (P = 0.745), and bone mineral density of the lumbar spine (P = 0.459) and the femoral neck (P = 0.749) between estrogen users and nonusers. Multiple regression analysis showed that the duration of estrogen use was significantly associated with number of total (P = 0.019) and posterior (P = 0.007) teeth remaining, independent of age and oral bone height.


CONCLUSIONS
Our results suggest that estrogen may promote tooth retention by strengthening the periodontal attachment surrounding the teeth, but not increasing oral bone height and not decreasing oral bone porosity.
Taguchi
Akira
A
Department of Oral and Maxillofacial Radiology, Hiroshima University Dental Hospital, Hiroshima, Japan. akiro@hiroshima-u.ac.jp
Sanada
Mitsuhiro
M
Suei
Yoshikazu
Y
Ohtsuka
Masahiko
M
Nakamoto
Takashi
T
Lee
Kaoru
K
Tsuda
Mikio
M
Ohama
Koso
K
Tanimoto
Keiji
K
Bollen
Anne-Marie
AM
D015502:Absorptiometry, Photon; D000539:Alveolar Process / Q000503:physiopathology*; D015519:Bone Density / Q000187:drug effects / Q000502:physiology*; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D015914:Estrogen Replacement Therapy / Q000379:methods*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007564:Japan; D016014:Linear Models; D008875:Middle Aged; D015999:Multivariate Analysis; D015663:Osteoporosis, Postmenopausal / Q000188:drug therapy / Q000517:prevention & control*; D017698:Postmenopause / Q000187:drug effects; D011336:Probability; D018570:Risk Assessment; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity; D016388:Tooth Loss / Q000453:epidemiology*