The effects of sports participation on the dental age in adolescents.

Purpose: The present study aims to assess the effect of sports on the dental maturity using two different dental age assessment methods and to determine whether there is a significant correlation between dental maturity and body mass index.

Materials and methods: One hundred and thirty-eight students from Sports High School (study group) and 126 from Fine Arts High School (control group) with standard panoramic radiographs were included in the study. Dental age was assessed using Nolla's and Haavikko's methods. Demographic information regarding the weekly training hours and sports age of the study group participants was gathered. Body mass index values of all participants were calculated. Factorial analysis of variance and Tukey's test were performed and the Pearson correlation coefficient was calculated.

Results: The mean age of the students was 15.93 ± 1.13 years for the study group and 15.99 ± 1.09 years for the control group. Mean dental age values were lower than the mean chronological age values in both high schools. The difference between the dental and chronological ages was insignificant in Sports High School (p > 0.05). Differences in the body mass index between high schools and genders were statistically significant (p<0.05). Significant correlations were detected between the sports and dental ages and between dental age and body mass index values.

Conclusion: Sports participation could have positive effects on the dental maturity as well as on the bone development.