Assessment of Skeletal Maturity using the Permanent Mandibular Canine Calcification Stages

Objectives: To determine the relationship between the stages of cervical vertebrae maturation and permanent mandibular canine calcification stages
Methods: A retrospective cross-sectional study was conducted using the pretreatment lateral cephalograms and dental panoramic radiographs of 360 patients (ages 9-16 years) equally divided into 6 groups according to the cervical vertebral maturation (CS) stage. The skeletal age was determined using the CS method and the dental age was calculated using the Demirjian index. The Mann Whitney U test was used to compare the cervical stages between the genders. The spearman correlation was used to correlate the chronological age and the dental age between males and females. The chi square test was used to correlate the dental age and cervical stages in the genders.

Results: Mean chronological stages at the different CS showed a significant difference at CS 5 showing that girls achieved skeletal maturity on average one year earlier than boys. The mineralization of the canine in the male population is complete to about 50% at CS-3 which is the peak of growth. Females have entered the “G” and “H” stages at CS-3.

Conclusions: The completion of canine root occurred on average at 13 years of chronological age and the CS3 stage of skeletal maturity. Females are dentally advanced as compared to males. The onset of adolescent growth spurt (CS2 and CS3) corresponds to the canine stage “F” in males and canine stage “G” in females.