Assessment of skeletal maturation with permanent mandibular second molar calcification stages among a group of Nepalese orthodontic patients

BACKGROUND Assessment of growth status of a patient is a key component in orthodontic diagnosis and treatment planning for growing patients with skeletal discrepancy. Skeletal maturation based on hand-wrist radiograph and cervical vertebral maturation (CVM) are commonly used methods of growth assessment. Studies have shown that stages of dental calcification can also be used to assess skeletal maturation status of an individual, whereas other studies have suggested that the relationship between dental calcification and skeletal maturation should be interpreted with caution owing to racial variation. OBJECTIVE To evaluate the relationship between permanent mandibular second molar calcification stages and skeletal maturity assessed by CVM among a group of Nepalese orthodontic patients. MATERIALS AND METHODS One hundred and sixty-eight digital radiographs (84 orthopantomograms and 84 lateral cephalograms) were obtained from the records of 84 patients who sought orthodontic treatment in Orthodontic and Dentofacial Orthopaedic Unit, Department of Dentistry, Institute of Medicine, Kathmandu. Two parameters were used in this study, namely, CVM stages from lateral cephalogram and Demirjian index (DI) stages from orthopantomogram. The evaluation of digital radiographs was carried out on a computer screen with a resolution of 1,280×800 pixels. The association between DI stages of permanent mandibular second molar and CVM stages was assessed. RESULTS A statistically significant association was found between DI and CVM stages for both male and female subjects with Pearson's contingency coefficient value of 0.751 and 0.766 for male and female subjects, respectively. CONCLUSION Skeletal maturation can be reliably assessed with dental calcification stages of permanent mandibular second molar for Nepalese orthodontic patients.