Correlation between Dental and Skeletal Maturity in Korean Children

Abstract

The aim of this study was to investigate the relationships between the stages of calcification of various teeth and skeletal maturity stages among Korean subjects. The samples were derived from hand-wrist, panoramic radiographs, and lateral cephalograms of 743 subjects (359 males and 384 females) with ages ranging from 6 to 14 years. Calcification of seven permanent mandibular teeth on the left side were rated according to the system of Demirjian. To evaluate the stage of skeletal maturation, hand-wrist radiographs were analyzed by skeletal maturity indicators (SMI) system of Fishman and lateral cephalograms by cervical vertebral maturation (CVM) method of Baccetti. Statistically significant relationships were found between dental calcification and skeletal maturity stages according to Spearman rank-order correlation coefficients (r = 0.40-0.84, p < 0.001). The second molar showed the highest correlation and central incisor showed the lowest correlation for female and male subjects. For both sexes, canine stage G and second molar stage F were related to SMI 6 and CS 3. Because of the high correlation coefficients, this study suggests that tooth calcification stages from panoramic radiographs might be clinically useful as a maturity indicator of the pubertal growth period in Korean patients.