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Cervical vertebral and dental maturity in Turkish subjects

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ajodo.2006.08.016Get rights and content

Introduction: The aim of this study was to investigate the relationships between the stages of calcification of teeth and the cervical vertebral maturity stages in Turkish subjects. Methods: A retrospective cross-sectional study was designed. The final study population consisted of 590 Turkish subjects. Statistical analysis of the data was performed with computer software. Spearman rank order correlation coefficients were used to assess the relationship between cervical vertebral and dental maturation. For a better understanding of the relationship between cervical vertebral maturation indexes and dental age, percentage distributions of the studied teeth were also calculated. Results: Strict correlations were found between dental and cervical vertebral maturation of Turkish subjects. For males, the sequence from lowest to the highest was third molar, central incisor, canine, first premolar, second premolar, first molar, and second molar. For females, the sequence from lowest to the highest was third molar, canine, second premolar, first premolar, central incisor, first molar, and second molar. Conclusions: Dental maturation stages can be used as a reliable indicator of facial growth.

Section snippets

Material and methods

A retrospective cross-sectional study was designed. The sample was derived from the lateral cephalometric and panaromic radiographs of patients attending the orthodontic department of Dicle University. More than 2000 patient files were reviewed. The final study population consisted of 590 Turkish subjects. Interestingly, the group was randomly selected, but the numbers of male and female patients were equal (295). We made no effort to balance the sexes, but they were equal. Mean age for the

Results

Distribution of the chronological ages of the subjects according to cervical vertebra maturation indexes is shown in Table I. Mean and standard deviations of the chronological ages of the sexes according to cervical vertebral maturation indexes are listed. In the first 5 stages of the cervical vertebral maturity indexes, girls were younger, and, at the last stage, boys were younger.

Table II shows the results of Spearman rank order correlation coefficients between cervical vertebral and dental

Discussion

Several methods have been described to determine dental age.12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23 One of these uses time of eruption as a parameter. The time of eruption is described as the moment the tooth pierces the mucosa.18 This is called tooth emergence. The first disadvantage of this method is determining its exact timing because it happens quickly. Also, tooth emergence can be altered by local factors, systemic diseases, and nutritional habits; reliability of the method is

Conclusions

Determining residual growth is an important factor in orthodontic treatment. Sometimes the whole treatment plan depends on the growth factor. With the aid of a panaromic radiograph, it is necessary to estimate a patient’s maturity by using dental development stages as an indicator in the Turkish population.

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