Correlation of cervical vertebral bone age and Demirjian's stages of dental maturation for lower left permanent canine and second molar

Abstract

Aim: To evaluate and correlate cervical vertebral bone age(CVBA) and Demirjian's stages of dental maturation for lower left permanent canine(CMS) and second molar (MMS). Materials and methods: A cross-sectional radiographic study was conducted on 264 participants with age group of 7-18 years who were further categorized into six subgroups having an interval of 2 years chronologic age. The CVBA, CMS, and MMS were assessed for the same patient. The assessment of CVBA of the participants involved in the study was derived from the equation given by Mito et al. The height and width of the 3rd and 4th cervical vertebra was measured with the help of IC measure software. The dental maturation was assessed as per the morphologic classification method given by Demirijian. Analysis of variance (ANOVA), Tukey's multiple comparisons and Spearman's correlation coefficient was utilized to determine the significance and correlation between the age groups, CVBA, CMS, and MMS. The multiple comparison levels were set at 0.05 level of significance. Results: Significantly different CVBA was observed among each individual stage of CMS and MMS. Significant changes in the dimensions of the cervical vertebra were observed when the dental maturation stage progressed from F to G and G to H stage. Conclusion: Chronologic age had a moderate correlation with CVBA. CVBA was significant for all the stages of maturation of CMS and MMS. Females revealed a higher level of maturation. A significant difference in the vertebral bone age was observed in the transition of stage F to G and G to H of dental maturation of canine and molar. Both CMS and MMS revealed a significant strong positive correlation with CVBA. Clinical significance: Cervical vertebral bone age can be utilized as an adjunct in identifying the stages of dental maturation of lower left permanent canine and second molar.