Relationship of Skeletal Age and Chronological Age Based on Lateral Cephalograms in the Treatment of Different Malocclusions

Background: Skeletal age has been suggested for the assessment of puberty in patients, as chronological age is not reliable for this purpose. Objectives: This study aimed at determining chronological age based on thematuration stage of cervical vertebrae in the treatment of different malocclusions in a group of Iranian patients. Methods: This cross- sectional analytical study was performed on 480 lateral cephalograms of patients aged 8 to 16 years (240 males and 240 females). The specimens were randomly selected from 480 patients who referred to a radiology center in Tehran. Patients were divided into 8 age groups. Cephalograms were traced by ViewBox software to determine the class of malocclusion. The cervical vertebral maturation stage (CVMS) was determined according to the Baccetti’s classification. Data were analyzed using SPSS. Results: The Pearson’s correlation coefficient revealed a significant association between chronological age and CVMS in all patients with different classes of malocclusion (P < 0.001). Also, the correlation of CVMS and gender in class II (P < 0.001) and III (P = 0.018) malocclusions was statistically significant. However, there was no significant difference between CMVS and gender in class I. CS-1, CS-4, and CS-5 had the highest frequency percentage in the age range of 12 to 13, 13 to 15 and 15 to 16 years, respectively. Conclusions: The CVMS and skeletal age significantly increased with an increase in chronological age. However, high variability of chronological age at each CVMS showed that chronological age is not a reliable index for planning treatment for different malocclusions.