Relationship between Cervical Vertebral Maturation and Dental Development in a Group of Yemeni Children and Adolescents

Abstract

Research on skeletal and dental maturation to assess growth status of growing patients with skeletal discrepancy is essential in orthodontics diagnosis and treatment planning. The method of cervical vertebral maturation (CVM) has proved to be a reliable method in evaluating the pubertal growth spurt in growing individuals. Dental developmental stages are suggested as a more reliable method for assessing dental maturity. The relationship between skeletal and dental maturity is an essential subject in orthodontics. This study has been conducted to investigate the relationship between skeletal and dental maturity in a group of Yemenis. This descriptive cross-sectional study included digital panoramic and lateral cephalometric radiographs obtained from 207 Yemeni subjects (122 females and 85 males aged between 8–18 years). Dental maturity was evaluated based on the calcification stages of the left mandibular permanent canines, first and second premolars, and second molars according to the method of Demirjian et al. (1973). Skeletal maturity was evaluated based on cervical vertebral maturation stages according to the method of Baccetti et al. (2005). Spearman rank-order correlation coefficients were applied to measure the correlation between CVM stages and dental developmental stages of individual teeth. The study results showed that females reached each CVM stage at an earlier age than males. All the correlation coefficients between CVM and dental calcification stages were statistically significant (p < 0.01) in both genders. Correlations were moderate to high (0.686 to 0.873 for females, and 0.787 to 0.871 for males). The sequence of the correlation for individual teeth from lowest to highest was mandibular canines, first premolars, second premolars, and second molars. The mandibular canines had the lowest and the second molars had the highest correlation for both genders. It concluded that high significant correlations were observed between CVM and dental developmental stages, suggesting that dental calcification stages can be used as a simple first-level clinical tool to estimate skeletal maturity in Yemeni subjects during orthodontic diagnosis and treatment planning.