Correlation assessment of cervical vertebrae maturation stage and mid-palatal suture maturation in an Iranian population

Abstract

Aim: The aim of the current study was to evaluate the correlation of skeletal age based on cervical vertebrae maturation (CVM) stage and mid-palatal suture (MPS) maturation in an Iranian population.

Material and methods: This was a cross-sectional analytic study. A total number of 93 samples were included. Samples were taken from patients who were in CS3 to CS6 stages of CVM who had cone-beam computed tomography and lateral cephalometry based on inclusion criteria. The maturation of MPS was assessed based on the cone-beam computed tomography images. In the classification of maturation of MPS, there are five stages (A-E) and the suture fusion occurs in stage D. In stage E, the suture is fused completely. The CVM stage (CS1-6) was also assessed based on the lateral cephalograms. Data were analyzed using Spearman correlation with a significance level of 0.05.

Results: A total of 51 female individuals with a mean age of 14.98 ± 4.806 and 42 male individuals with a mean age of 15.79 ± 5.135 participated in this study. The correlation coefficient between the CVM stage and MPS maturation was 0.691 in female and 0.754 in male individuals (P < 0.001). Stage D was correlated with CS4.

Conclusion: The results demonstrated that CVM stages had a significant but moderate positive correlation with the maturation of MPS. Until CS3, the MPS has not been fused and in CS6 the MPS is fused definitely.

Keywords: Cervical vertebrae; Maxillary expansion; Mid-palatal suture; Skeletal age measurement.