Abstract
Objectives Precocious puberty indicates quick growth inception and delayed puberty indicates
retardation in growth. This study aimed to investigate whether dental development
is synchronous with somatic development.
Materials and Methods In this study, 62 girls and 34 boys with precocious puberty aged 5 to 9, 29 girls
with delayed puberty aged 13 to 16, and 43 boys with delayed puberty aged 14 to 17;
169 children (91 girls and 78 boys) with normal development were compared about their
dental ages through their panoramic radiographs by using the Demirjian method and
skeletal ages from hand-wrist radiographs by using Greulich-Pyle atlas.
Results The findings showed that, in all cases, the dental age values were higher than chronologic
and skeletal age values to a statistically significant degree. In the precocious puberty
group, the dental age values were higher than chronologic age values to a statistically
significant degree. In the delayed puberty group, the difference determined between
the chronological age and the dental age was not found to be statistically significant.
Conclusion Given that the Demirjian method is inclined to make calculations that are higher
than the chronological age, our findings suggest that the dental development was faster
in the precocious puberty group and retarded in the delayed puberty group.
Keywords
precocious puberty - delayed puberty - dental age estimation - Demirjian method -
panoramic radiographs
