Prevalence of Soft Tissue Calcifications in CBCT Images of Mandibular Region

STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM: Most of the soft tissue calcifications within the head and neck region might not be accompanied by clinical symptoms but may indicate some pathological conditions. PURPOSE: The aim of this research was to determine the prevalence of soft tissue calcifications in cone beam computed tomography (CBCT) images of mandibular region. MATERIALS AND METHOD: In this cross sectional study the CBCT images of 602 patients including 294 men and 308 women with mean age 41.38±15.18 years were evaluated regarding the presence, anatomical location; type (single or multiple) and size of soft tissue calcification in mandibular region. All CBCT images were acquired by NewTom VGi scanner. Odds ratio and chi-square tests were used for data analysis and p< 0.05 was considered to be statistically significant. RESULTS: 156 out of 602 patients had at least one soft tissue calcification in their mandibular region (25.9%. of studied population with mean age 51.7±18.03 years). Men showed significantly higher rate of soft tissue calcification than women (30.3% vs. 21.8%). Soft tissue calcification was predominantly seen at posterior region of the mandible (88%) and most of them were single (60.7%). The prevalence of soft tissue calcification increased with age. Most of the detected soft tissue calcifications were smaller than 3mm (90%). CONCLUSION: Soft tissue calcifications in mandibular area were a relatively common finding especially in posterior region and more likely to happen in men and in older age group.