Assessment of dental maturity of children aged 6-14 years using demirjian’s and nolla methods

Introduction: Growth is a physiochemical process found in living beings, which manifests itself in the structure, composition and size of an organism. The degree of skeletal development is reflection of the degree of physiological maturation of a subject. While dental maturity can be determined by stages of tooth formation. Chronological age is important for school attendance, employment and social benefits. Therefore, dental age, chronological age and skeletal age are all essential parameters that help to assess the growth and development in children.
Aim: To assess the dental maturity of children aged 6-14 years using Demirjian’s and Nolla methods in Patiala city.
Method: The study included hand wrist radiograph of left hand and an Orthopantomogram on the same day. Chronological age was assessed from the date of birth of the child. The radiographs of hand and wrist were taken and skeletal age was determined using atlas of Greulich and Pyle. Dental age was assessed from OPG by using Demirjian’s method and Nolla’s calcification stages.
Result: The skeletal age was found to be more significantly correlated to chronological age followed by Dental age according to Nolla’s method and Dental age according to method.
Conclusion: Skeletal age was found to be more reliable than dental age. Among dental age estimation methods Nolla method gave relatively closer age estimation than Demirjian’s method in population of Patiala district.