ABSTRACT
Orthodontic diagnosis and treatment planning for skeletal problems in growing children must involve growth prediction. Apart from the knowledge of chronological, dental and skeletal age of a growing patient, it is also mandatory to predict growth and its outcome during the treatment. In females, onset of menarche is a sign of pubertal growth and a biological skeletal maturity indicator. Studies have shown that there is an association amongst skeletal and dental maturity indicators. This study was therefore designed to estimate association between skeletal- and dental-maturity indicators and onset of menarche in females and evaluate its applicability for growth modification in females.METHODS140 female patients were divided into 7 groups and each patient was asked about their menarcheal status. Radiographs such as orthopantomography, lateral cephalogram and middle phalanx of third finger were taken from each patient to assess the CVMI status, stages of dental calcification and MP3 stages.RESULTSThe correlation between onset of menarche, CVMI status, stages of dental calcification and MP3 stages is of high statistical significance (p-0.0001).CONCLUSIONSThere are strong correlations between all the parameters studied which signifies that assessment of skeletal maturation with any of the above methods studied, gives exact growth maturation age of the patient.