Objective: To examine correlations between cervical vertebral maturation stages (CVMs) and dental development stages, and cervical vertebral maturation (CVM) stage 6 and completion of root formation of mandibular third molar in Thai cleft patients.
Material and Method: Lateral cephalograms of 366 cleft subjects aged 7-9 years were assessed for CVMs using Baccetti
method. Calcification stages of all left mandibular teeth within each CVMs were assessed from panoramic films using Demirjian method.
Results: Spearman rank correlation coefficients comparing CVMs and teeth were 0.51-0.79 (p<0.001). Second molar had the highest and central incisor had the lowest correlations. In CVMs 6, 2.9% of third molars had completed root formation.
However, only CVMs 6 could be predicted from third molar stage G that had a high likelihood ratio (30.94).
Conclusion: Dental development was highly correlated with CVM in clefts. Third molar stage G could predict completed
growth of mandible in individual patients, but it should be combined with other maturation indicators.

Keywords: Cervical vertebral maturation, Cleft patients, Dental development