Sexual maturation characteristics, chronologic age, dental, and skeletal development are some of the more commonly used means to identify stages of growth. Hand wrist radiograph and cervical vertebrae maturation index (CVMI) are more reliable for skeletal development assessment. This study was conducted to compare the skeletal maturity using the maturational stages of middle phalanx of the third finger (MP3) with cervical vertebrae and then to evaluate the reliability of MP3 as a sole skeletal maturity assessment method. Chronological age group of the 112 subjects was 8-16 years for females and 10-18 years for males were selected for the study. Lateral cephalometry and intra oral peri-apical radiograph of MP3 of the left hand of each patient were taken. Then, statistically it was correlated which was highly significant. Skeletal maturation of MP3 and cervical vertebrae stages progress with advancing chronological age. Female subjects were advanced on an average of 2 years earlier than male subjects at every stages of growth spurt. These results suggest that MP3 can substitute CVMI for skeletal maturity evaluation to determine optimal treatment time for various orthodontic procedures. The developmental stages of the MP3 could be used as a sole indicator in assessing the skeletal maturity.
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