Dental age: Supporting factor in skeletal age assessment from cervical vertebrae

Objective To study the relationship of the dental age of the permanent right mandibular canine, first premolar, second premolar, and second molar and the skeletal age of cervical vertebrae, and to identify the tooth which was the most related to skeletal age of cervical vertebrae in male and female. Materials and methods Three hundred and twenty samples were selected from the patients of the Department of Orthodontics Chulalongkorn University. The samples were devided to 8 groups according to chronological age. Each group consisted of 40 samples (20 males and 20 females) which the mean and standard deviation of their chronological age in male were 9.08 ± 0.27, 9.94 ± 0.35, 11.04 ± 0.26, 11.94 ± 0.33, 13.10 ± 0.37, 13.99 ± 0.28, 14.97 ± 0.39 and 16.02 ± 0.36 years respectively, and 9.21 ± 0.26, 9.95 ± 0.25, 11.05 ± 0.36, 12.01 ± 0.21, 12.94 ± 0.33, 13.83 ± 0.37, 14.99 ± 0.42 and 15.99 ± 0.26 years respectively in female. The dental age was determined from the tooth bud morphology of the permanent right mandibular canine, first premolar, second premolar, and second molar from panoramic radiograph and the skeletal age of cervical vertebral bodies was determined from lateral cephalograph, which were recorded and evaluated by 3 observers. Chi-square test (Spearman test) was used to analyze the relationship of dental age in various teeth and skeletal age of cervical vertebrae. Results Dental age of various teeth and skeletal age of cervical vertebrae showed statistically significant relationship (p < 0.05) in both genders. We found that the most correlation coefficient value of the right mandibular first premolar and canine were 0.606 and 0.589, respectively in male, while the right mandibular canine and first premolar were 0.623 and 0.594, respectively in female. Conclusion Dental age of various teeth and skeletal age of cervical vertebrae showed statistically significant relationship (p < 0.05). The teeth that have the strongest relationship were the right mandibular first premolar in male and the right mandibular canine in female. (CU Dent J. 2013;36:177-88) Key words: cervical vertebrae; dental age; growth spurt; skeletal age; skeletal maturation