[Computerized method for calculating cervical vertebral maturation]

For Helm, "the rhythm of facial growth often governs the course of orthodontic treatment". The moment of treatment is an important dimension for our therapy to last a minimum of time with a greatest chance of success and stability. This notion of processing time is a daily requirement in our practices. The radiographs of the wrists will gradually disappear according to the ALARA principle, since we can in a single irradiation, via the profile radiography, have sufficient information to situate the patient on its growth curve. The vertebral stages are good biological indicators of individual skeletal maturity but their interpretation remains difficult. In this work, a computerized method was used to determine the stage of vertebral maturation in a reliable and reproducible manner. In this study, 15 young boys and 15 young girls (total 30 patients) were included, 12,2 years old on average with a standard deviation of 2,6 years. To determine the skeletal age of these patients, the practitioner made an hand-wrist x-ray and, for diagnostic reasons, he also made a profile radiography the same day. The patients who didn't made an hand-wrist x-ray were excluded. The vertebral computerized method seems to be a reliable method to be used in orthodontic practices. Other studies would allow to use this method for average ages, gender-appropriate.