Cervical vertebral maturation and its relationship to circum-pubertal phases of the dentition in a cohort of Portuguese individuals

BACKGROUND: To explore the relationship between individual skeletal maturity as assessed by Cervical Vertebral Maturity method (CVM), circum-pubertal phases of the dentition (early mixed, intermediate mixed, late mixed and early permanent) and chronlogical age in a cohort of Portuguese individuals. MATERIAL AND METHODS: This was a retrospective cross-sectional study. The sample comprised 300 Caucasian Portuguese subjects aged 6 to 16 years, (137 boys and 163 girls). All the participants had good quality panoramic and lateral cephalometric radiographs. Subject skeletal maturity was evaluated using the CVM method. Dental age evaluation was determined by using panoramic radiographs and dental casts. Descriptive statistics (absolute and relative frequencies) and percentages were obtained for the prevalence of the CVM stages in the various phases of the dentition and for the different ages for each of males and females. RESULTS: Prepubertal stage 1 (CS1) was predominently observed in the early mixed dentition phase followed by the intermediate mixed dentition phase. While, the CS1 stage was found in all the other phases of tooth development. There was a wide distribution of all CVM stages in the late mixed dentition and early permanent dentition phases. While, the CS3 stage was predominantly present in both the late mixed dentition and in the early permanent dentition phases. Moreover, the chronological age did not seem to be an accurate indicator in differentiating between the pre-pubertal and the pubertal growth spurt stages. CONCLUSIONS: Early mixed dentition phase could determine with a high accuracy the prepubertal skeletal maturity stage (CS1), Furthermore, the chronological age did not seem to be an accurate indicator in differentiating between the pre-pubertal and the pubertal growth spurt stages. Key words:Cervical vertebrae, cephalometric, panoramic, tooth calcification, portuguese.