A comparison of salivary Indian hedgehog (IHH) protein levels and cervical maturational stages as growth indicators

Abstract

The study was done to assess the salivary Indian hedgehog protein levels in the pre pubertal, pubertal and post pubertal orthodontic patients and to correlate the levels to CVMI stages. The samples consisted of 90 patients aged 08-20 years (42 males, 48 females), grouped into 6 cervical stage according to their cervical maturation. 3ml of saliva was collected and ELISA was done. The results suggested that there was a significant rise in the mean salivary Indian hedgehog levels from pre-pubertal to pubertal phase and a gradual decline in the levels from the pubertal to post pubertal phase. There was statistically significant result (P=0.03) for the comparison of mean salivary Indian hedgehog levels between different Cervical Vertebral Maturation stages and there was no significant difference between the gender. Thus, Salivary Indian hedgehog can be used as bio-marker to determine the skeletal maturity of an individual.