Evaluation of fractal analysis and radiomorphometric measurements of mandibular bone structure in bruxism and non-bruxism paediatric patients

The goal of this examination was to compare the impact of probable sleep/awake bruxism on the mandibular trabecular bone structure by fractal analysis (FA) with digital panoramic radiograph (DPR) and radiomorphometric measurements in paediatric patients with bruxism.

The examination included 130 participants with 63 patients with probable sleep/awake bruxism and 67 control groups. Bilateral regions of interest (ROI) in three regions were examined as ROI1: mandibular ramus, ROI2: mandibular angulus, ROI3: anterior to the molar teeth. Radiomorphometric measurements were taken of the mandibular cortical width (MCW), panoramic mandibular index (PMI), and mandibular cortical index (MCI). p < 0.05 was approved for statistical significance.

The ROI-1, ROI-2, and ROI-3 values were defined to be statistically significantly high in the bruxism group (p < 0.05). No significant difference was found between the groups in the other values (p > 0.05). There was no difference in the age and gender for any of the parameters (p > 0.05).

In children and adolescents, the mandibular trabecular bone can be affected by bruxism. FA can be used as an auxiliary method for finding the mandibular trabecular differences of patients with bruxism in paediatric dentistry just as it can for adults.