Serum Insulin Like Growth Factor-1– A Skeletal Maturity Indicator for the Assessment of Orthopedic Treatment Timing of Skeletal Class II Malocclusion

Abstract

Orthodontic treatment planning decisions are dependent on the assessment of growth status. Skeletal maturity could be assessed with various radiologic and non-radiologic biologic markers.The purpose of our study was to investigate the reliability of serum Insulin like Growth Factor – 1(IGF-1) as a skeletal maturity indicator in comparison to the stages in cervical vertebral maturation (CVM). Twenty five subjects with skeletal class II malocclusion in the age range of 11-19 years were recruited for the study. The cervical vertebrae staging was assessed by lateral cephalograms. Blood was collected aseptically and serum was separated. The serum levels of IGF- 1 were quantitatively assessed using a commercial ELISA kit, IGF-1 600 ELISA (DRG Instruments GmbH, Germany). There was a significant decline in the mean IGF-1 levels with increase in age in both the sexes. Statistically significant difference was observed in the concentration of IGF-1 among the different age groups. There was a significant decline in the mean IGF-1 levels with increase in CVM staging from stage 2 to stage 4. IGF-1 could be a more reliable biologic skeletal maturity indicator in comparison to cervical vertebral maturity indicator and thus could predict more accurately the growth status of the mandible to facilitate correction of skeletal class II jaw discrepancies.