AIM: The aim of this prospective, transversal, multicentric study was to determine the correlation between the morphologic changes of the second, third and fourth cervical vertebral bodies and the chronological age; to compare with the skeletal age of the hand and wrist bones; and to verify the differences in the bone growth pattern between male and female. METHODS: The sample was constituted by 140 subjects, 74 girls and 66 boys. The morphologic alterations of the cervical vertebrae was analyzed by the Hassel and Farman method modified by Baccetti, Franchi and McNamara to 5 stages that correlate to the puberal growth in lateral cephalometric radiographs. The hand-wrist radiographs evaluated the events of ossification by the method of Greulich and Pyle. RESULTS: The results demonstrated: correlation of the stages of cervical vertebral maturation with the chronological age; positive and moderate significant correlation between the two methods with r = 0.6326 (IC = 95%) and p < 0.0001. CONCLUSION: It was concluded that the age increases proportionally in relation to the cervical vertebral maturation stages, where the majority of the patients of the sample in the stage II were considered good for the beginning of the orthodontic and orthopedic therapy. The comparison between the two methods demonstrated that the cervical vertebral maturation stages is a useful and trustworthy additional method in the determination of children’s facial and puberal growth. Females presented earlier growth stages than males, reaching the beginning and end of pubertal growth spurt in earlier age.
Skeletal maturation; Puberal growth; Hand-wrist maturation; Cervical vertebrae
