Mandibular Changes in A Patient Suspected with Thalassemia Trait: A case Report by Radiograph Finding

Thalassemia is an inherited hemolytic anemia characterized by abnormal synthesis the hemoglobin globin component. A forty-year-old woman presented to a private dentist complaining of a left-sided facial pain and headache that occurred out of the blue. Panoramic radiograph showed severe caries on several teeth, generalized reduction in the alveolar crest, thin lamina dura and changes in trabecular pattern of mandible and the inferior alveolar canal on each side was partially absent. Unmanaged anemia caused ineffective erythropoiesis resulting extensive bone marrow with sparse coarse trabecular. As the mean hemoglobin falls, enhanced osteoclastic bone resorption thus thinning lamina dura, reducing alveolar crest and lacking radiopaque line of inferior alveolar canal. Panoramic is widely used in dentistry, this case report presents a case of patient discovered thalassemia through radiological findings.