Determination of skeletal maturity- a comparison of three methods

Aim 1. To evaluate the reliability of using middle phalanx for third finger (MP3) & mandibular second molar (37) as indicators of skeletal age by relating their ossification/calcification stages to those of the cervical vertebrae (CV). 2. To determine whether any significant difference exists between the sexes when MP3, 37 & CV are used as maturity indicators. Materials and Method: 20 children (10 girls and 10 boys) between 8-16 years of age were included and divided into two groups each (8-11 & 12-16 yrs). All the children were subjected to: Lateral cephalogram, IOPA 37, Digital radiograph of the MP3 region. Staging was done according to different methods and assessed by three examiners. The inter- and intra-examiner variability were determined by the Wilcoxon signed rank test and the Kruskal-Wallis test and were found to be non-significant. Examiner A was selected to evaluate all radiographs as she showed the least intraexaminer variability. Statistical Analysis: Performed using SPSS version 20. The correlation between the percentage distribution of the subjects within the MP3 and 37 stages with CVMI and the peak-wise distribution of the MP3 and 37 stages were statistically analyzed using Pearson's chi-square test; ANOVA was used to determine the correlation between the MP3 & 37 stages with the calendar age. Results: The correlation between MP3 & CVMI and 37 & CVMI stages were found to be highly significant. Conclusions: Digital radiography of MP3 and 37 can be used conveniently for skeletal maturity assessment.