Relationship between Dental Development and Cervical Vertebrae Development Assessed Using Radiography in an Iranian Population

Introduction: Determining the skeletal age and remaining growth potential of patients are important factors in orthodontic treatment. Evaluating cervical vertebrae development is a reliable method for determining skeletal age. This study aimed to evaluate the correlation between dental calcification and stages of skeletal maturation. Materials and methods: This descriptive cross-sectional study was conducted on 84 panoramic radiographs and lateral cephalometrics related to 10-15-year-old patients without systematic diseases affecting dental calcification and development. Patientʹs skeletal age was determined by the stage of cervical vertebrae development and by using Lamparskiʹs method. Dental age of samples was determined by Demirjianʹs method. Findings were analyzed by SPSS 18 software using Spearmanʹs correlation test to determine the correlation between the cervical vertebrae development and the dental development stages. P < 0.05 was considered significant. Results: Spearmanʹs correlation test showed a significant direct correlation between dental age and skeletal age (r2 = 42.5%). The linear relationship between dental age and skeletal age was significant (p < 0.05). The highest correlation coefficient was between the cervical vertebrae development and the stages of mandibular second premolar calcification in girls (rs = 0.609) and in the second molar in boys (rs = 0.471). In Demirjianʹs method, stage G of the mandibular second premolar teeth in girls and stage F of the mandibular second molar teeth in boys nearly coincided with the pubertal growth spurt. Conclusion: The findings of this study showed that, in Demirjianʹs method, stage G of the mandibular second premolar teeth in girls and stage F of the mandibular second molar teeth in boys was most frequent between developmental stages. According to the relatively high correlation coefficient between the dental age and the skeletal age, using dental calcification stages by panoramic radiography may become a simple first-level diagnostic test to determine skeletal maturity, which requires more studies in different ethnicities and places all around the world.