A study into the relationship between dental development and cervical vertebral maturation in UK subjects

Aim: To examine relationships between dental and skeletal maturity in White British and Asian UK subjects. Methods: Ninety subjects per ethnic group, with digital panoramic and lateral cephalometric radiographs, were selected from the records of Birmingham Dental Hospital. Dental maturity was assessed from the development stage of the left mandibular canine, first and second premolar, and second molar using the Demirjian Index (DI). Skeletal maturity was determined from cervical vertebral maturation (CVM) stage using the method of Baccetti. Spearman rank-order correlation coefficients were calculated to measure the association between DI and CVM. Results: Females reached each CVM stage at an earlier age than males. There was no statistically significant difference in the mean age of White British and Asian subjects at each CVM stage. The mandibular canine had the highest correlation with CVM stage in White British males (r = 0.568). The mandibular second molar demonstrated the highest correlation to CVM stage in White British females and in Asian males and females (r = 0.533; r = 0.752; r = 0.569 respectively). Conclusion: Moderate statistically significant correlations were observed between DI and CVM stages, suggesting that dental development stage can be considered as a method for determining skeletal maturity in UK subjects during orthodontic treatment planning