Correlation between Hand-wrist and Cervical Vertebral Maturation in Proto Malay

Background: The knowledge of patient's growth status is an important part of orthodontic treatment. The growth status can be determined by using cervical vertebrae and hand-wrist maturation assesement. However, it must be concerns about extra radiation exposure by hand-wrist maturation assessment, therefore, cervical vertebral maturation in lateral cephalometric radiographs was evaluated for its correlation to skeletal maturity as an alternative technique of the hand-wrist method.Objectives: to investigate the correlation between the cervical vertebrae and hand-wrist maturation stages in Proto-Malay male and female aged 7-17 year. Methods: A cross sectional study was conducted with sample of 179 subjects ( 83 female and 96 male). The maturation stage of cervical and hand-wrist were determined using the Bacceti's and Fishman methods. Results: The Spearman's rank order correlation coefficient revealed significant relationship (ñ = 0,928-0,95 , p < 0,01) between cervical and hand-wrist maturaty level. Conclusions: The excellent relationship between cervical and hand-wrist maturity seems to be sufficient suggest that cervical maturity to be used as a substitute of hand-wrist maturity. Key words: cervical maturation, hand-wrist maturation