Physical growth and age at eruption of deciduous and permanent teeth in well-nourished Indian girls from birth to 20 years

The results of a cross-sectional anthropometric survey of 1,643 well-nourished girls, from birth to 20 years, from the city of Delhi (India) are reported. The standardized measurements of body weight, height/crown-heel length, sitting height/crown-rump length, biacromial and bicristal diameters, head circumference, chest girth, upper arm girth, calf girth and skinfolds at biceps, triceps, and subscapular regions were taken for each subject. Medians fall between the 10th and 25th percentiles of National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS) reference data for height and the 10th and 50th percentiles for weight. The mean height and weight of the present girls are above the national reference values given by Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR). Means and standard deviations of the weight/height ratio and body mass index (BMI) are also presented. The height/weight ratio increases continuously with age to 18 years. The mean values of the BMI, however, decrease to 6 years, rising afterward to adulthood. Median ages of eruption of deciduous and permanent teeth are presented. The first deciduous tooth to emerge in present girls is mandibular I₁ at 7.6 months. The sequence of emergence based on ascending median ages is I₁ , I₂ , M₁ , C, and M₂ for both maxillary as well as mandibular deciduous teeth. The permanent set of dentition starts with the emergence of mandibular M₁ at 5.75 years. Despite the rapid physical growth of American and British girls, the present girls are ahead in dental emergence and show earlier emergence of maxillary and mandibular permanent premolars, suggesting a genetic basis for the emergence of deciduous and permanent teeth. Partial correlation coefficients with age constant between height and the number of erupted deciduous and permanent teeth are positive and significant, reflecting an association, to some degree, with height and weight. © 1992 Wiley-Liss, Inc.