Objectives: Growth changes are important in adolescent patients because dentofacial orthopedic treatment of children involves maximizing the benefits of growth

when treating unbalanced growth tendencies of the maxilla and mandible. Body height has been favored as a reflection of general skeletal maturation when discussing the timing of mandibular growth which can be easily acquired in any clinical setting. The objective of this longitudinal study was to evaluate and compare the body height growth of Class I and Class III orthodontic patients according to the Fishman skeletal maturation index (SMI).

Material and Methods : The study sample included 81 Class I and 71 Class III adolescents who had height measurements and hand-wrist radiographs taken annually. Height completion rate, residual height, height increase per sequential SMI stage and height velocity were analyzed. Sex differences were evaluated and comparisons between Class I and Class III groups were made. In addition, the height parameters of orthodontic patients were indirectly compared with that of the general population.

Results : In boys and girls, height completion rate was over 90 percent at SMI stage 6, residual height was less than 10 cm at SMI 7 and height increase per sequential SMI stage was greatest from SMI 6 to SMI 7. Height velocity was greatest from SMI 5 to SMI 6 in boys and from SMI 4 to SMI 5 in girls.

Conclusion : There was no significant difference in body height parameters for all SMI stages between Class I and Class III adolescents. Adolescents who had orthodontic treatment were not shorter in stature at growth completion compared with the general population.