Detection of carotid artery calcification on digital panoramic radiographs

What is it about?

Objective: The aim of this study was to estimate the incidence of carotid artery calcification (CAC) in a sample of Lebanese population using digital panoramic radiographs. Materials and Methods: Panoramic radiographs of 500 patients (281 females and 219 males), agedbetween18and88years(mean: 47.9years),wereassessedforCAC.Datacollectedwereanalyzed statistically using IBM® SPSS® for Windows version 20.0 (SPSS, Chicago, IL, USA). Results: CAC were found in 34 cases (6.8%), among them, 23 females (8.18%) and 11 males (5.02%). Six of all the calcifications were on the right side, against six on the left side, and 22 on both sides. The mean age of patients affected with CAC was 60.9 years (ranging from 18 to 88 years). Chi-square test showed no statistical significance between gender and CAC, while Spearman correlation analysis showed positive low correlation with age (r = 0.179). Conclusion: CAC can be found on routine panoramic radiographs taken in dental clinics; dentists should automatically refer the patients in question for specialized medical evaluation.

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Why is it important?

Panoramic radiographs may have some diagnostic importance for detecting carotid artery calcification closely connected to atherosclerosis, thus preventing major life-threatening events such as cerebrovascular accidents.