Application of cervical vertebral maturation stages index in orthodontics

Evaluation of skeletal age and determination of growth status had important and special roie in orthodontic treatment planning (such as functional orthopedic treatment and orthognatic surgery) and also in stability of it. There were several biologic indicators for the detection of the peak in mandibular growth. Due to the limitations of biological indicators application, idea of new indicators was seemed importantly. Cervical vertebral maturation (CVM) method is one of them. At first the detection of the peak in mandibular growth was based on the analysis of the second through sixth cervical vertebrae in six developmental stages. But a few improvements of the original CVM analysis were still needed. In this method, the peak in mandibular growth was determined based on the analysis of the second through fourth cervical vertebrae in five developmental stages. This method is easy, applicable and more valid than hand-wrist analysis method.