The relationship between frontal sinus morphology and skeletal maturation

Background: The aim of this study is to evaluate the relationship between frontal sinus morphology and hand-wrist bone maturation by using postero-anterior (PA) cephalometric radiographs. Materials and methods: The study sample consisted of 220 patients divided into 11 groups based on the hand-wrist radiographs. The right and left maximum height, width and area of the frontal sinus parameters were measured in PA cephalometric radiographs of 220 subjects aged 8–18 years. The hand-wrist skeletal maturation stages were evaluated on the hand-wrist radiographs using the method of Fishman. The Kendall tau-b values were analysed to evaluate the correlation between the hand-wrist skeletal maturation stages and the frontal sinus parameters. Results: The right and left frontal sinus areas and widths were found to be larger in males than in females (p < 0.05). In males, a significant difference was observed in all frontal sinus parameters in different maturation stages (p < 0.001), while a statistically significant correlation was found in females between the left frontal sinus area, right frontal sinus height, right frontal sinus width and different maturation stages (p < 0.05). Conclusions: The relationship between frontal sinus dimensions obtained from PA cephalometric radiographs and hand-wrist maturation stages suggests that frontal sinuses can be used in determining growth and development.