Correlation Among Chronological Age, Dental Age and Cervical Vertebrae Maturity in Romanian Subjects

The purpose of this study was to assess the correlation among the chronological age, the dental age and the skeletal maturity in adolescents and young adults.

The material consisted of panoramic and lateral cephalometric radiographs of 221 subjects, 146 girls (mean age 13.79 ±2.90) and 75 boys (mean age 13.46 ±2.82), inhabitants of Mures County (Central Romania). The chronological age was defined as the time from birth to the day the radiographs were taken. The dental age was evaluated according to Demirjian’s method for third molars mineralization stage. Skeletal maturity was evaluated on cephalometric radiographs using the cervical vertebrae maturation (CVM) method. Descriptive statistical and linear regression analysis was performed and a coefficient of correlation was calculated.

The mean values obtained for cervical stages for boys and girls were significant (p=0.0171). The third molar mineralization seems to be highly correlated with the gender’s chronological age for the whole group and for both genders as well (p<0.0001). The medium age of the cervical maturation showed to be younger in girls than in boys in CS1, CS3, CS5 and CS6 stages. In CS4 stages female subjects are in advance with almost 12 months, these subjects start (CS1) and end (CS6) the cervical maturation at a younger age.

The results indicate that significant correlation exist between the chronological age and the dental age when crown development ends and between the chronological age and CVM (CS1 and CS6 stages for girls and CS2 and CS5 stages for boys).