The dissertation clarifies and adapts the formula for identifying dental age in children using the Cameriere method for Ukrainian children, particularly children from the Lviv region of Ukraine. A study of the correspondence of the calendar age to dental age in children as a marker of a child’s individual development was performed for the first time in Ukraine. Such research is currently performed and discussed in the scientific community of many countries in Europe and other continents. Considering the published results of research by scientists in professional, scientific sources, there are obvious differences in the intensity and age range of periods of active development and formation of the child's body, its organs and systems, as well as individual characteristics of these processes.
The method of identifying dental age, according to Cameriere, developed and adapted for Ukrainian children made it possible to assess the correspondence of the individual development of a child to their calendar age. Thus, another auxiliary tool is obtained that helps to determine the developmental features of a specific pathology, work out the optimal plan and timing of treatment, and predict the long-term results of such treatment.
In the course of the work, orthopantomograms (OPG) of 108 children (65 boys and 43 girls) aged 6-13 years from the city of Lviv and Lviv region were examined. OPGs were selected according to such criteria as age, gender, lack of agenesis, or extraction of permanent teeth in the lower left quadrant. The exclusion criteria included incomplete dental history, previous orthodontic treatment, severe systemic diseases, congenital anomalies, and the incompleteness of the embryos of permanent teeth with the exception of the 3rd molar.
The task of the first part of the study was to estimate the dental age determined by the Cameriere R method, using a modified linear regression formula of this author and comparing it with the calendar age of children.
The research results revealed a certain percentage of children in each age group whose dental age significantly differed from their calendar age, which indicates the peculiarities and differences in the individual development of these children.
The data analysis found that the greatest number of deviations of dental age indicators from the chronological one falls precisely when the most active process of changing teeth, rebuilding and forming bone tissue begins. During this period, the first visits to the orthodontist are made, and the dental and maxillary apparatus is evaluated according to age. At this time that it is extremely important to assess the individual physiological development of the child's body according to its chronological age and determine the optimal period for a particular treatment.
Other parts of the study conducted as part of the dissertation work allowed for assessing changes in bone structures in children aged 6-13 years and identifying their relationship in the process of active changes.
