Association between internal carotid artery calcifications detected as incidental findings and clinical characteristics associated with atherosclerosis: A dental volumetric tomography study

Purpose: To evaluate the presence of calcifications in the internal carotid artery (ICA) in cone-beam computed tomography (CBCT), and to verify the association of these findings with sex, age, dental condition, and risk factors associated with vascular disorders. Methods: The CBCT scans used in this study were obtained from the database of a private dental clinic requested for the planning of rehabilitation with dental implants. The selection criteria were patients aged 40 years and above. Out of a pool of 1176 CBCT examinations, a total of 284 scans of adult patients were evaluated by two blinded observers. Data were collected from patients' medical records. Results: ICA calcifications were present in 63.0% of the examinations. Most calcifications were in the intracranial pathway (166). Despite being present in a smaller number 57 (C1), extracranial calcifications were more severe. Spearman's ρ coefficients (rS) indicated that the number of missing teeth was directly associated with the presence of calcifications (p = 0.042) and severity (p = 0.020). The age variable also had a direct relationship with the presence of calcifications (p ≤ 0.0001), increasing its frequency and severity over the years. In addition, hypertension (p = 0.036) and use of antihypertensive drugs (p = 0.015) were directly associated. Conclusions: There is a high occurrence of ICA calcifications in CBCT as incidental findings in adult patients, and it is directly associated with age, number of missing teeth and hypertension.