[Correlation of dental age and anthropometric parametres of the overall growth and development in children].

INTRODUCTION/AIM Anthropometric methods of measuring the whole body and body parts are the most commonly applied methods of analysing the growth and development of children. Anthropometric measures are interconnected, so that with growth and development the change of one of the parameters causes the change of the other. The aim of the paper was to analyse whether dental development follows the overall growth and development and what the ratio of this interdependence is. METHODS The research involved a sample of 134 participants, aged between 6 and 8 years. Dental age was determined as the average of the sum of existing permanent teeth from the participants aged 6, 7 and 8. With the aim of analysing physical growth and development, commonly accepted anthropometric indexes were applied: height, weight, circumference of the head, the chest cavity at its widest point, the upper arm, the abdomen, the thigh and thickness of the epidermis. The dimensions were measured according to the methodology of the International Biological Programme. The influence of the pertinent variables' related size on the analysed variable was deter mined by the statistical method of multivariable regression. RESULTS The middle values of all the anthropometric parametres, except for the thickness of the epidermis, were slightly bigger with male participants, and the circumference of the chest cavity was statistically considerably bigger (p < 0.05). The results of anthropometric measurement showed in general a distinct homogeneity not only of the sample group but also within gender, in relation to all the dimensions, excyt for the thickness of the epidermis. The average of the dental age of the participants was 10.36, (10.42 and 10.31 for females and males respectively). Considerable correlation (R = 0.59) with high statistical significance (p < 0.001) was determined between dental age and the set of anthropometric parameters of general growth and development. CONCLUSION There is a considerable positive correlation (R = 0.59) between dental age and anthropometric parameters of general growth and development, which confirms that dental development follows the overall growth and development of children, aged between 6 and 8 years.