Caries and Osteoporosis in Postmenopausal Women

Caries and osteoporosis are diseases that affect postmenopausal women and are of public health concern. Knowledge of this period of women's lives, particularly factual data on their health, can help in planning actions aimed at improving quality of life among this group and reducing the public expenditure involved in treating the consequences of these diseases.

Objective: To describe the prevalence of caries and osteoporosis among postmenopausal women aged over 50 years. The secondary aims were: 1) to describe sociodemographic characteristics; 2) to identify the most prevalent caries lesions (root or crown); and 3) to investigate the use or need for dental prosthesis rehabilitation in both dental arches.

Methods: The sample consisted of 107 postmenopausal women, attended at the Oral Diagnostic Clinic of Feira de Santana State University, Bahia, Brazil. Data relating to osteoporosis diagnoses, sociodemographic conditions, behavioral characteristics and health service utilization were obtained from the database of the 2006 study "Osteoporosis and periodontal disease in post-menopausal women". Other data were obtained from clinical examinations performed by a single dentist, following criteria used by the Health Ministry during an epidemiological study of dental health in 2003.

Results: The postmenopausal women's mean age was 59.6 years and the mean DMFT index was 20.6. Most of them were using medications to treat systemic diseases, but were not using HRT and had not used any conceptive drugs in the past. The anamnesis reveled that they had at least three meals/day, were nonsmokers, did not use alcohol, consumed a lot of coffee and sugar but did not use soft drinks or sweetener. Physical activity was uncommon among the group, or was restricted to aerobic exercises.

Conclusions: The women were of low sociodemographic level, mostly had osteopenia and presented poor oral conditions. Crown caries occurred more than root caries and prostheses were needed.

FAPESB/SECTI/SESAB/UEFS