Evaluation of the relationship between midpalatal suture maturation and chronologic age with cone-beam computerized tomography via fractal analysis in A Turkish population

This is a retrospective archieve study and the aim of the study is to evaluate of the relationship between midpalate suture maturation and chronologic age with cone beam computerize tomography and to investigate the maturation stages of the midpalatal suture via fractal analysis in female and male individuals in Turkish population, to state whether there is any correlation between these data and to investigate effectiveness of using the results of fractal analysis as a criterion which specifies the maturation stage in clinical practice. Cone beam computerize tomography images from 515 subjects (315 female, 200 male) with a mean age of 16 ± 3.6 years (female subjects 16.1 ± 3.6 years, male subjects 15.7 ± 3.7) were included in this study. The midpalatal suture maturation was firstly evaluated based on the classification described by Angelieri et al. In the second stage, the evaluation was made through the quantitative data obtained by fractal analysis. According to the results of the study; there was a statistically significant difference between fractal analysis and chronologic age with the maturation of the midpalatal suture. While there was no statistically significant difference between fractal dimension and male or female according to the maturation of the midpalatal suture, there was a statistically significant difference between chronologic age and gender in stage E. There was a weak positive statistically significant correlation between maturation of the midpalatal suture and fractal analysis in male and female subjects, but there was no statistically significant correlation between maturation stages and chronologic age in male or female subjects. As a result, fractal analysis, which is an objective and quantitative method, is a method that can be used in determining the maturation of the midpalatal suture. Considering the positive correlation between fractal dimension and maturation of the midpalatal suture, the optimal fractal dimension cut-off value can be used to assess fusion in the midpalatal suture. On the other hand chronologic age is not a useful indicator for evaluating the maturation of midpalatal suture, but it can be considered to offer altenative information about time when fusion takes place in the midpalatal suture.