Assessment of correlation between hand-wrist maturation and cervical vertebral maturation: a fractal analysis study.

BACKGROUND: To investigate whether fractal dimension (FD) measurements from hand-wrist radiographs and lateral cephalometric radiographs are correlated with each other and with skeletal maturation stages. METHODS: In this retrospective study conducted on hand-wrist and lateral cephalometric radiographs obtained from patients between 2017 and 2023, hand-wrist maturation stages (HWMS) and cervical vertebral maturation stages (CVMS) of 144 subjects (6 to 17 years of age) were assessed radiographically. The participants were divided into nine groups (n = 16 each) based on HWMS. Fractal analysis was performed on the radiographs of the radius, the middle finger phalanges (proximal, medial and distal), and the cervical vertebral bodies (C2, C3, C4). Mean and standard deviation values, Spearman's and Pearson correlation analyses, one-way ANOVA, Kruskal-Wallis H tests and Mann-Whitney-U test were used to evaluate the data. RESULTS: Positive correlations were found between the FD values of the radius and HWMS or CVMS (r = .559, P = .001, r = .528 P = .001 respectively). The FD values of the radius were positively correlated with those of all cervical vertebrae (C2, C3, C4), proximal and medial phalanges as well as age. FD values measured from the proximal phalanx, medial phalanx and radius showed significant differences among both HWMS and CVMS (P < .05). HWMS was strongly correlated with CVMS (r = .929, P = .001). Age was strongly correlated with HWMS (r = .795, P = .001) and CVMS (r = .756, P = .001). There was a significant difference in terms of age distribution among HWMS and CVMS (P < .05). CONCLUSIONS: FD measurements on hand-wrist radiographs can provide useful information for the assessment of skeletal maturation stage. Especially, FD measurements from the radius are important and more reliable to predict skeletal maturation stage.

Orthodontic Approach to Patients with Autism: A Review.

Autism is a complex neurobehavioral disorder that causes problems in thinking, feeling, language, and the ability to communicate with other people. Over the past two decades, there has been a great deal of interest in autism disorder. This problem is recognized worldwide, and various measures are taken both nationally and internationally to improve the lives of affected individuals and families. The oral health care of such patients can be complicated since they cannot express their problems and can show unpredictable behaviors during treatment. The aim of the literature review was to collect information about the general oral health status of patients with autism, the difficulties that may be encountered during treatment, and the precautions that can be taken and the treatment approaches. This article reviews the dental literature from 1943 to the present.