title: The interrelation between the number of deciduous teeth and the morphological maturity of a child.
abstract: The process of the first dentition is part of a very short period during human development characterised by an extraordinary intensity of growth processes. The main purpose of the present study is to provide information on the relationship between three criteria of biological maturity of children: body height, body weight and the number of milk teeth. The present study is based on a cross-sectional material collected in 30 nurseries in Łódź (Poland). The analysis was carried out on 1901 children (981 boys and 920 girls) aged from 2 to 36 months. All coefficients of Pearson correlation and partial correlations between the analysed variables are statistically significant at the 0.01 level. The highest value of coefficient correlation was noticed for the relation between dental and chronological age, as well as between dental and morphological age based on body height (about 0.90 and 0.85, respectively). Through an analysis of regression (backward) equations for predicting the number of teeth from chronological age, body weight and body height were calculated. These mathematical equations were confirmed in practice in about 80% of the children. Coefficients of determinations between the analysed variables are high for boys and girls (about 72% and 74%, respectively). This observations demonstrate conclusively that there exists a highly significant relation between deciduous tooth age and morphological age.
authors.affiliation: University of Łódź, Łódź, Poland. elzbietz@biol.uni.lodz.pl
authors.forename: Elzbieta
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Zadzińska
mesh_terms: D000366:Age Determination by Teeth; D000886:Anthropometry; D001724:Birth Weight; D001827:Body Height; D001835:Body Weight; D002675:Child, Preschool; D018568:Crown-Rump Length; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D008297:Male; D011044:Poland; D012016:Reference Values; D012044:Regression Analysis; D014094:Tooth, Deciduous