Assessment of dental maturation on orthopantomograms among children with various dental malocclusions at a tertiary care hospital

Objectives:: To determine and compare the median dental age among males and females and in subjects with dental Class I, II and III malocclusions. Methods: The retrospective study was conducted at Aga Khan University Hospital and comprised dental records of patients from July to December 2016 who were aged 9-16 years and had complete dentition excluding third molars. The sample was divided according to dental malocclusion which was further categorised according to chronological age groups. SPSS 21 was used for data analysis. Results: Of the 270 sbjects whose radiographs were studied, 135(50%) each were males and females. Children aged 11-12 years showed a statistically significant difference (p=0.03) in the median dental age among genders. There was a strong positive correlation in the dental and chronological ages in the males (p<0.001) and females (p<0.001) sample. Median time of eruption of mandibular second permanent molar in different malocclusions was 11 years and 2 months. Conclusion: There was a strong positive correlation between chronological and dental ages for males and females. Females subjects were dentally advanced compared to the male subjects aged 11-12 years. .