title: A practical method for determining pubertal growth spurt.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  It is important to evaluate skeletal maturation in orthodontic treatment. Hand-wrist and cervical maturation stages have been shown to be correlated with skeletal growth changes during puberty. The cervical vertebrae have 6 maturation phases, whereas the medial phalange of the third finger has 5 stages; a modified version has 6 stages. The purpose of this study was to determine the correlation of the cervical vertebrae maturation index with the modified medial phalange index.
  
  
  METHODS
  Lateral cephalometric and left-hand medial phalange radiographs of 150 males between the ages of 9 and 19 who were referred for orthodontic treatment were examined.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The 6 modified medial phalange stages were found to correlate with the 6 cervical vertebral maturation stages.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Because cervical vertebrae stage is a reliable maturation indicator, the medial phalange of the third finger can be used instead to assess a subject's skeletal maturation.
authors.affiliation: Faculty of Dentistry, Department of Orthodontics, University of Dicle, Diyarbakir, Turkey. torun@dicle.edu.tr
authors.forename: Törün
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Ozer
authors.forename: Jalen Devecioğlu
authors.initials: JD
authors.lastname: Kama
authors.forename: Senem Yiğit
authors.initials: SY
authors.lastname: Ozer
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000365:Age Determination by Skeleton / Q000379:methods*; D002508:Cephalometry; D002574:Cervical Vertebrae / Q000254:growth & development*; D002648:Child; D050278:Finger Phalanges / Q000254:growth & development*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D015588:Observer Variation; D011627:Puberty / Q000502:physiology*; D015203:Reproducibility of Results