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Abstract
Fourteen ossification events in the hand and wrist were studied in relation to the
age of peak growth velocity in body height in fifty-two boys and thirty-six girls.
The subjects were aborigines enrolled in a longitudinal growth study. Peak growth
velocity and the ossification events occurred in aborigines at about the same ages
as in Caucasian children. The results indicate that the ossification events can be
used by the orthodontist to assess a child's growth activity. The accelerative phase
of the adolescent growth spurt is accompanied by epiphyseal widths reaching diaphyseal
widths in the fingers and radius and by ossification of the pisiform and hamate Stage
1. Peak growth velocity occurs at about the time of epiphyseal capping in the fingers
and radius and ossification of the sesamoid and hamate Stage 2. The decelerative phase
of growth is indicated by epiphyseal union in the third finger, progressively from
distal to proximal phalanges, and in the radius. The value of these indicators in
orthodontic practice is discussed.