Abstract
CONTEXT: Morphological variation in children can be understood by the knowledge of growth and development. The state of dental development can be used in forensic odontology to ascertain the age of an unidentified child. AIMS: This study aims to investigate the relationship of the stages of calcification of the permanent mandibular canine, mandibular premolars, and permanent mandibular first and second molars with skeletal maturity using panoramic and hand-wrist radiographs. SETTINGS AND DESIGN: This descriptive work was designed as a cross-sectional study. MATERIALS AND METHODS: The study was conducted on 300 healthy subjects (150 males and 150 females) ranging 7-20 years of age. Demirjian's method and Björk, Grave, and Brown's method were used to correlate teeth calcification and skeletal maturity, respectively. STATISTICAL ANALYSIS USED: Descriptive statistics and Spearman's rank correlation coefficient were used. RESULTS: 1. Correlation coefficients between the skeletal maturity stages and the developmental stages of the five teeth ranged 0.461-0.877 for females and 0.480-0.790 for males. 2. The second molar showed the highest and the first molar showed the lowest relationship for female and male subjects in the Indian population. CONCLUSIONS: The findings of this study indicate that tooth calcification stages might be clinically used as a maturity indicator of the pubertal growth period.