Related Experiment Video
Updated: Feb 28, 2026
Author Spotlight: PEGASOS Tissue Clearing Technique to Visualize Bone Remodeling
Published on: August 18, 2023
Novel methodologies and technologies to assess mid-palatal suture maturation: a systematic review
Darren Isfeld1, Manuel Lagravere2, Vladimir Leon-Salazar3,4
1Orthodontic Graduate Program, School of Dentistry University of Alberta, Edmonton, AB, Canada.
Introduction:
A reliable method to assess midpalatal suture maturation to drive clinical decision-making, towards non-surgical or surgical expansion, in adolescent and young adult patients is needed. The objectives were to systematically review and evaluate what is known regarding contemporary methodologies capable of assessing midpalatal suture maturation in humans.
Methods:
A computerized database search was conducted using Medline, PubMed, Embase and Scopus to search the literature up until October 5, 2016. A supplemental hand search was completed of references from retrieved articles that met the final inclusion criteria.
Results:
Twenty-nine abstracts met the initial inclusion criteria. Following assessment of full articles, only five met the final inclusion criteria. The number of subjects involved and quality of studies varied, ranging from an in-vitro study using autopsy material to prospective studies with in vivo human patients. Three types of evaluations were identified: quantitative, semi-quantitative and qualitative evaluations. Four of the five studies utilized computed tomography (CT), while the remaining study utilized non-invasive ultrasonography (US). No methodology was validated against a histological-based reference standard.
Conclusions:
Weak limited evidence exists to support the newest technologies and proposed methodologies to assess midpalatal suture maturation. Due to the lack of reference standard validation, it is advised that clinicians still use a multitude of diagnostic criteria to subjectively assess palatal suture maturation and drive clinical decision-making.
