128). The difference was found to be similar between the classes in both females and males. Differences between dental and chronologic ages according to sub-age groups are shown in Table 3. There were statistically significant differences between the dental and chronological ages in more all age groups ranging from 7 to 13.9 years in female patients, while there was no difference in 14-15.9 years age groups. In male patients, there were significant differences only in the age groups 10-10.9 and 11-11.9 years and the differences were not statistically significant in the other age groups. Table 3 Differences between dental and chronologic ages in sex and age groups Correlations The distribution of classes in SNA��, SNB��, ANB�� and GoGnSN�� measurements are shown in Table 4.

The relationships between the dental age and these parameters were first evaluated in general and then evaluated separately for each class. Dental age did not show any significant correlation with the SNA�� or GoGnSN�� angle, while a weak, statistically significant negative relationship was observed between dental age and the SNB�� angle (�� =0.205, P < 0.001). There was a weak, linear and statistically significant correlation between dental age and the ANB�� angle (�� =0.313, P < 0.001). Table 4 Median values of SNA��, SNB��, ANB�� and GoGnSN�� parameters When the dental age was evaluated according to gender and classes, only in boys did the ANB�� angle shows a statistically significant correlation with dental age, although a weak linear correlation was found (�� =0.346, P < 0.05).

DISCUSSION Despite the development of dental maturation, prediction methods in the 1970′s, studies conducted in many countries over the recent years show that there is still much to be investigated about this issue. The Demirjian method is the most widely used method for determining dental maturation. The main reason this method is used is that the scoring is performed according to the shape of the tooth instead of the length of the tooth. Thus, the magnification between 3% and 10% in the panoramic film is eliminated as a possible source of error. In addition, depending on the length of the root, it may be difficult to provide an assessment of standardization. The reason for preferring the Demirjian method is its high reproducibility. As with the many studies previously reported here, intra- and inter-observer variability assessment of dental maturation is lower.

[11] In this study, the upper age limit of the selected patients was 15.9 years, at which there is closure of the latest erupted permanent teeth apices (except the third molar), AV-951 as in previous studies.[12,13] The lower limit was determined to be 7 years, because only a very limited number of patients admitted to the orthodontics clinic were under 7 years of age. This age group is also the most common age group of patients in the practice of orthodontics.