Original article
Predicting mandibular growth potential with cervical vertebral bone age

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Abstract

This study assessed the possibility of using cervical vertebral bone age determined from cephalometric radiographs to predict mandibular growth potential. The subjects were 2 groups of 20 Japanese girls and young women: one group to derive a formula for predicting mandibular growth potential, the other to compare predicted values with actual values. Each group included subjects in the initial stage of the pubertal growth period and the final stage of growth in early adulthood. A formula for predicting mandibular growth potential that included cervical vertebral bone age and the actual growth of the mandible (condylion-gnathion) was determined with regression analysis. Cervical vertebral bone age, bone age on hand-wrist radiographs, and chronological age were inserted into the formula, and actual values and values predicted with these parameters of the formula for mandibular growth potential were compared. The formula found mandibular growth potential (in millimeters) = −2.76 × cervical vertebral bone age + 38.68. The average error between the value predicted by cervical vertebral bone age and the actual value (1.79 mm) was significantly less (P < .001) than that between the actual value and the value predicted by chronological age (3.48 mm) and approximately the same as that between the actual value and the value predicted by bone age (2.09 mm). The formula derived from this study might be useful for treating orthodontic patients in the growth stage.

Section snippets

Material and methods

Lateral cephalometric and hand-wrist radiographs obtained from the Department of Orthodontics, Tohoku University Dental Hospital, Sendai, Japan, were examined. The images are 1.0625 times the actual size.

The subjects consisted of 2 groups of 20 Japanese girls and young women. These groups were each divided into initial and final stages of growth: 7.0- to 13.9-year-old subjects were grouped as the initial stage, and those older than 17.0 years were the final stage. In group A, subjects in the

Results

The average error between the first and second measurements for total mandibular length was 0.53 ± 0.31 mm (r = .997, P < .001).

The formula for predicting mandibular growth potential was determined by regression analysis: mandibular growth potential (in millimeters) = −2.76 × cervical vertebral bone age + 38.68 (r = .857).

A scattergram between cervical vertebral bone age and mandibular growth potential in group A is shown in Figure 4.

Table II{ shows the predicted mandibular growth potential

Discussion

The purpose of this study was to assess the possibility of predicting mandibular growth potential with cervical vertebral bone age, which was assessed from cephalometric radiographs. In many circumstances, it is important to be able to predict mandibular growth potential (eg, to determine when to apply functional appliances in Class II patients or when to perform orthopedic surgery in cases of severe skeletal deformity).

Sato et al4 attempted to predict mandibular growth potential with bone age,

Conclusions

This study has produced a method for predicting mandibular growth potential with only cephalometric radiographs. This method might be useful in treating orthodontic patients in the growth stage.

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Postdoctoral fellow.

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c

Professor and chairman

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