Objective: The objective of this study was to evaluate whether the calcification stages of maxillary canine, mandibular second molar, and mandibular third molar can be used for assessment of growth phase.
Materials and methods: The study group consisted of 274 subjects. Pre-treatment digital panoramic and lateral cephalometric radiographs of the patients were analysed. The patients' age was ranging from 7 to 19 years. Right maxillary canine, mandibular second molar and third molar were used as a sample. The teeth mineralization was assessed using modification of Gleiser and Hunt method. The skeletal maturation was assessed by the cervical vertebrae maturation (CVM) method.
Results: A significant association was found between CVM stage 2 and maxillary canine (UC) stage 4, mandibular second molar (LM2) stage 4, and mandibular third molar (LM3) stage 1. CVM stage 3 corresponded with UC stage 5, LM2 stage 5, LM3 stage 2. CVM stage 4 matched with UC stage 5, LM2 stage 6 and LM3 stage 3. The highest correlations between CVM and calcification stages were in the group of the maxillary canine (r = 0.812, P < 0.01) and mandibular second molar (r = 0.824, P < 0.01).
Limitations: Limitation of our study was that the study sample was not very big and the distribution value in the groups was very high, so it was impossible to check more statistical parameters.
Conclusions: The calcification stages of UC, LM2, and LM3 as indicators of skeletal maturity could be clinically used with caution, until this method is verified with a larger sample group.
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