Analysis of skeletal maturity of children with cleft palate in terms of healthy children by the CVM method.
BACKGROUND
For many years, the analysis of bone age X-rays have been used for the hand and wrist, which were assessed on the basis of changes in the various centers of ossification. These images, however, do not constitute a diagnostic element of cleft defects, leading to additional exposure of the patient to X-rays. The problem was solved by using lateral head films, which enabled the interpretation of the morphological changes in the cervical spine to evaluate skeletal development stages.


OBJECTIVE
The objective of this work is to define the differences between the skeletal age and chronological age of children with malocclusion and congenital craniofacial disorders - primary and secondary palate cleft.


METHODS
The study material comprised 90 lateral cephalometric radiographs of patients at the age of 7 to 16 (45 lateral head radiographs of patients with various occlusion disorders and 45 lateral head radiographs of patients with various types of primary and secondary palate cleft). Then, all the lateral cephalometric radiographs were analysed in terms of the shape of the 2nd, 3rd and 4th cervical vertebra in line with the Cervical Stage method (CS), developed by Baccetti et al. in 2005.


RESULTS
Patients with malocclusions without malformations achieved various stages of bone development at an earlier chronological age compared with patients with primary and secondary palate. An exception was the phase CS 3 (early growth spurt) development disorders, in which patients with different types of cleft had lower chronological age compared with patients with malocclusion.


CONCLUSIONS
The method that allows for an assessment of the development of skeletal maturity is the analysis of the shape of the cervical vertebrae in lateral head film.
Centre for Orthodontic Mini-implants at the Department and Clinic of Maxillofacial Orthopaedics and Orthodontics, Poznan University of Medical Sciences, Poland.
Rafał
R
Flieger
Centre for Orthodontic Mini-implants at the Department and Clinic of Maxillofacial Orthopaedics and Orthodontics, Poznan University of Medical Sciences, Poland.
Przemysław
P
Kopczyński
Department of Orthodontics, Poznan University of Medical Sciences, Poland.
Teresa
T
Matthews-Brzozowska
D000293:Adolescent; D000367:Age Factors; D002508:Cephalometry / Q000379:methods*; D002574:Cervical Vertebrae / Q000002:abnormalities* / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging; D002648:Child; D002972:Cleft Palate / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging; D005147:Facial Bones / Q000002:abnormalities* / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008310:Malocclusion / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging; D008445:Maxillofacial Development; D011859:Radiography; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012737:Sex Factors