A Cephalometric Study of Cervical Vertebrae Maturation to Evaluate Mandibular Growth at Different Levels in Skeletal Class I and Class II Malocclusions.

Aim: This study aims to assess the different increments of mandibular growth with cervical vertebrae maturation (CVM) in skeletal class I and skeletal class II malocclusions by using lateral cephalograms.

Materials and methodology: The sample size comprised 200 (100 males and 100 females, aged 7-16 years) lateral cephalometric radiographs with class I and class II skeletal patterns. The linear measurements condylion-gonion (Co-Go) and condylion-gnathion (Co-Gn) were compared between skeletal class I and class II malocclusion, genders, and the correlation with different CVM stages according to Hassel and Farnan (1995). The results were statistically analyzed by the Newman-Keuls post-hoc test.

Results: The mean Co-Gn and Co-Go showed a linear increase with the rise in maturation stages and was evidently higher in males than females. For Co-Gn, it is evidently higher in class I than class II and for Co-Go it is evidently higher in class II than class I malocclusion.

Conclusion: Implementing treatments at CVM stages 2-3 or before 3-4 may normalize mandibular length and orientation across malocclusion types.