Dental maturity amongst various vertical and sagittal facial patterns

OBJECTIVE: To compare the mean dental maturity amongst three vertical facial patterns (short, average and long anterior facial heights) and also amongst two sagittal facial patterns (skeletal class I and II) in orthodontic patients. STUDY DESIGN: Cross-sectional analytical study. PLACE AND DURATION OF STUDY: The Aga Khan University Hospital, Karachi, from August to October 2008. METHODOLOGY: Data was retrospectively retrieved from pretreatment orthodontic records of patients who visited the orthodontic clinic. The sample was divided into three vertical groups, namely short, average and long anterior facial types, and two sagittal groups, namely skeletal class I and II. Dental development was assessed using the Demirjian\u27s system. One way ANOVA and independent sample t-test were used to find any difference in dental maturity amongst vertical and sagittal facial patterns, respectively. RESULTS: There was no statistically significant difference in dental maturity amongst the three vertical facial patterns (p=0.111) and also amongst the two sagittal groups (p=0.975). Statistically significant gender dimorphism (p \u3c 0.001) was seen amongst boys and girls for dental maturity with girls being more advanced than boys in their dental development. CONCLUSION: Dental maturation in the three vertical and the two sagittal groups showed no statistically significant difference in our studied population sample and thus need no variations in treatment initiation timings. However, girls should be treated earlier as they are dentally more advanced than boys

Dental age table for a sample of Pakistani children

The aim of this study was to evaluate the applicability of Demirjian\u27s dental age assessment table in a sample of Southern Pakistani population and, if not applicable, to formulate a separate dental age table for Pakistani males and females. The study was conducted on the dental pantomographs of a sample size of 882 subjects (427 males and 455 females) ranging in age from 7 to 14 years. A paired t-test was used to assess any difference between chronological age and dental age assessed according to Demirjian\u27s method. Logit function was used to make the relationship between dental maturity and chronological age and linear regression analysis with the equation X = [Ln {y/100 - y} - a]/b was used to generate dental age tables for Pakistani males and females. Dental age assessed according to Demirjian\u27s method for this male sample was over-predicted in the 7 year and 11-15 year age group (P \u3c 0.05). In the female sample, there was an over-prediction in all the age groups (P \u3c 0.05). Statistically significant differences were found in chronological and dental age assessed by Demirjian\u27s method for Pakistani males and females and thus, a new table was generated to convert dental maturity calculated according to Demirjian\u27s method into dental age for the population

Correlation, chronologic age, skeletal maturity, dental age

Aim: To determine the correlation among chronologic age, skeletal maturity, and dental age in reference to both sexes. Methods: In 380 subjects (147 males and 233 females) between 7 and 17 years of age, skeletal maturity was assessed using the cervical vertebral maturation stages described by Baccetti et al. Dental age was determined using the Demirjian method. The correlation between skeletal maturity and chronologic age on one side and between skeletal maturity and dental age on the other was assessed with Spearman rank correlation coefficients. Pearson correlation coefficients were used to assess the correlation between chronologic and dental age. Results: For both sexes, significant correlations among chronologic age, skeletal maturity, and dental age were found. The mandibular first premolar had the highest correlation with skeletal maturation in both sexes. Conclusion: As skeletal maturity and dental age are significantly correlated, tooth development may be used to assess a Patient\u27s skeletal maturity at an early age

Facial flow line and its effect on dental midline deviation on a female subject in an Asian population – A cross-sectional study

INTRODUCTION: This study aims to understand the relationship between midline deviations and the inherent asymmetry that can be observed in a human face. MATERIALS AND METHODS: A cross-sectional study was conducted using a frontal smile photograph of a female which was altered on Adobe Photoshop software version 23.0 into eight different photographs by deviating the dental midlines by 2 mm, 4 mm, and 6 mm towards and away from the facial flow line (FFL). 4 mm of chin deviation was incorporated in all the pictures except for the first picture in which the midline and chin were kept symmetric. Orthodontic residents evaluated those photographs on an interrupted visual analogue scale (VAS) with 0 being the least attractive and 10 being the most. Simple linear regression was applied to observe factors associated with VAS score. RESULTS: Highest score was observed for picture with midline and chin on (MLCon) with a score of 9.4 ± 0.7, followed by picture with midline on and chin deviated (MLon) 8.7 ± 0.8. The deviations towards green zone received higher scores in comparison to deviations towards red zone. Linear regression revealed highly statistically significant differences between the constant and the rest of the pictures. CONCLUSIONS: The formation of green and red zones by the FFL influences the perception of midline deviation as judged by orthodontic residents. Midline when deviated towards the green zone, was judged to be more aesthetic than when shifted towards the red zones