Study on ethnic differences of bone maturation in young patients aged 6 to 12 years using the cervical vertebrae and hand-wrist bones

• Grant number: 06/02302-0
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Scientific Initiation
• Start date: July 01, 2006
• End date: December 31, 2006
• Field of knowledge: Health Sciences - Dentistry - Orthodontics
• Principal Investigator: Ary dos Santos-Pinto
• Grantee: Guilherme Hamamoto Portugal Teles
• Host Institution: Faculdade de Odontologia (FOAr). Universidade Estadual Paulista (UNESP). Campus de Araraquara. Araraquara , SP, Brazil

Abstract

In orthodontics it is used for the treatment of the skeletal dyplasia and malocclusion the natural development of the bones. The bone age is considered a parameter that shows less variation in the determination of the stage of individuals’ maturation and the hand and wrist radiograph has been the most accepted and used for this purpose. Eklöf & Ringertz proposed in 1966 a quantitative analysis instead of a subjective analysis of the ephyfiseal ossification and development of the hand and wrist bones commonly used. For other instance, the study of the natural changes presented by the cervical vertebrae during its development demonstrated its utility in the determination of the skeletal maturity by the use of same lateral cephalometric radiograph utilized in the diagnosis and planning of the orthodontic treatment. In 2001 Santos-Pinto proposed a quantitative analysis of the dimensions of the first five cervical vertebrae as an objective method of analysis. The fact of the Brazilian population is stratified into two big groups, the leucoderm and melanoderm ones, and the velocity of growth and the bone maturation were peculiar for each ethnical group, it is necessary more studies to a better determination of the indices and patterns for that population.