Prevalence of Nutrient Canals in Digital Radiographs With Correlation to Systemic Conditions

To determine if any correlation exists with incidence of nutrient canals in subjects with underlying systemic illness. 50 subjects were selected, which includes ten diabetic subjects, tenhypertensive subjects, ten post-menopausal women, ten periodontitis subjects,and ten subjects without any underlying systemic illness as control group.Radiovisiograph of all the patients was taken for evaluation of nutrient canals. Statistical analysis ofthe data was done using the statistical package for the social sciences (SPSS 16.0) using ANOVAanalysis. Differences were considered significant when P ≤ 0.05. Among50patients, 41 patientsshowed nutrient canals, whereas ninepatients didn’t show nutrient canals. Seven oftenpatients in Group I showed nutrient canals that accounts to 70% prevalence, eightof ten patients in Group IIshowed nutrient canals that account to 80% prevalence, and eightof ten patients in control group showednutrient canals that account to 80% prevalence and eight of ten patients in group V showed nutrient canals that account to 80% prevalence. Incidence of nutrient canals (NC) in the periapical radiograph can act as a supplemental diagnostic aid in detection of underlying systemic conditions like hypertension, diabetes mellitusand aiding the patient in his/her overall health and treatment planning