Evaluation of the Midpalatal Suture and its Correlation with the Cervical Vertebral Maturation Stages and Second Molar Mineralization Stages: A CBCT Study

To evaluate and correlate the maturation stage of the midpalatal suture, CVM stages, mandibular left second molar mineralization stages of the subjects by CBCT. One hundred subjects (55 males and 45 females) with a mean age of 13.56 ± 4.46 years, were divided into five midpalatal suture maturational stage groups (A to E). Cervical vertebral maturational stages on lateral cephalograms and second molar mineralization stages on orthopantograms from the CBCT images obtained from Carestream CS 9300C 3D system were analyzed and correlation among them were calculated by Spearman’s coefficient of correlation and midpalatal suture maturation stage prediction accuracy estimated with sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value, and likelihood ratio. Spearman’s correlation analysis showed a highly significant (p value < .001) and positive correlation between MPS stage and CVM Stage (r = 0.930), MPS stage and mandibular left second molar mineralization stage (r = 0.757), and CVM stage and mandibular left second molar mineralization stage (r = 0.760). Cervical vertebral maturation stages 1,2, and 3 can be used clinically to predict the midpalatal suture maturation stages A, B, and C, respectively, as their likelihood ratios were more than 10. Second molar mineralization stages had less predictive value for MPS stages.