relationship of elongated styloid process in digital panoramic radiography with carotid intima thickness and carotid atheroma in doppler ultrasonography in osteoporotic females

statement of the problem: cardiovascular disease and osteoporosis are major health dilemmas. osteoporotic patients frequently display vascular calcification that consequently increases the cardiovascular morbidity and mortality. purpose : this study aimed to investigate the relation of osteoporosis, vascular calcification (atheroma, intima-media thickness (imt)) and elongated styloid process (esp) in a sample of osteoporotic and normal female individuals. materials and method: this study recruited 78 women who were assessed for bone mass density (bmd). sample included individuals with normal bmd (n=13, 17 %), osteopenia (n=36, 46 %), and osteoporosis (n=29, 37%). the presence of atheroma and imt was examined using color doppler ultrasonography (cd-us). in addition, digital panoramic radiographs (prs) were obtained to assess esp. results: in this study, 55 subjects (70%) with low bmd exhibited at least one side esp. femoral bmd decreased significantly in subjects with esp ( p = 0.03). bilateral esp was correlated with the presence of atheroma ( p = 0.029). the cimt was greater in patients with esp, although the relation was not significant. conclusion: the obtained data suggest referring the aged individuals with esp for bmd assessment and individuals with low bone mass and esp for more cardiovascular risk assessment.