Osteoporosis Case

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Introduction
Osteoporosis is a common disease that affects about 54 millions of Americans in United States, and women represent the 80 % of those individuals according to the National Osteoporosis Foundation (2015). Osteoporosis is a disease with a high risk of bone fracture due to the advance loss of bone density, and consequently skeletal strength is compromised. Women 's age to be at risk of osteoporosis is around 50 years old or over, while in men is after age 65 or over. Bone density is maintained by an equilibrium of osseous-cellular activity of osteoblasts (responsible of new bone formation) and osteoclasts (in charge of breaking down calcified bone) cells. When the imbalance of those two processes, and osteoclastic activity takes …show more content…

Therefore the assessment of patient 's health history and radiographs, would be a great tools for the dental hygiene to identify risk factors and compare bone density between previous and actual x-rays, respectively. Based on the information gathered during the patient 's annual dental visit, the hygienist may want to suggest the patient to see a physician who can check for bone mineral density . Overall, the dental hygiene appointment may be a perfect scenario for nutritional counseling about osteoporosis, for those patients that are predisposed to low bone density since many times osteoporosis remains silent for …show more content…

The alveolar bone resorb faster, after tooth extraction, when bone density is low affecting the quality of life in patients with mouth prosthetic (dentures). Osteoporosis is a chronic disease that up to date cannot be cured, but some drugs therapy help with prevention and stopping bone loss. The most used medications to slow bone resorption are bisphosphonates, which include alendronate, alendronate plus vitamin D (Fosamax and Fosamax Plus D), ibandronate sodium (Boniva), risendronate sodium, risendronate sodium with calcium carbonate (actonel, actonel with calcium and atelvia), and zoledronic acid (reclast). Unfortunately, the American Association of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgeons had reported that some patients under bisphosphonates therapy had shown dental complications such as osteonecrosis of the jaw (ONJ). The osteonecrosis of the jaw is a painful infection of the bone caused by slow healing of the jaw bone after tooth extractions or any invasive surgery that involve jaw and/or maxillary bone. The National Osteoporosis Foundation highlight that “of all the cases reported to date in 2007, 95% were in cancer patients who had taken higher dose of intravenous bisphosphonate, than the given for osteoporosis”. Since osteonecrosis of the jaw is not only a side effect of antiresorptive drugs, there are also other medications such antiangiogenic agents, in June of 2014 the Oral Surgeon

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