Con el fin de evaluar la asociación entre la madurez ósea y los cambios en los niveles de las gonadotrofinas durante las etapas iniciales de la pubertad, se correlacionaron los niveles séricos de las hormonas luteinizante (LH) y folículo-estimulante (FSH) con el estado de maduración esquelética (evaluado por el método de Greulich y Pyle), la edad, el peso, la talla y la madurez sexual (según la clasificación de Tanner y con el empleo del orquidómetro de Prader) en una población sana de la ciudad de Medellín, Colombia.El estudio de tipo prospectivo observacional, conformado por 16 varones y 15 niñas, entre 8 y 12 años de edad, evaluó seis veces a la misma cohorte durante un período de 30 meses empleando muestras sanguíneas para los niveles hormonales y radiografías de las estructuras óseas carpofalángicas; se incluyeron quienes completaron seis muestras sanguíneas y seis estudios radiológicos.Una vez registradas las diferencias clínicas de los estados Tanner de madurez sexual, los varones con ganancia progresiva de peso mostraron tendencia hacia mayores concentraciones de FSH y discreto avance de la edad esquelética, en tanto que, para los dos sexos, el cambio en los valores de LH se correlacionó mejor con la progresión de la edad esquelética independientemente de otras variables.

Introduction: To establish the relationship between orthodontic treatment time with educational/administrative/clinical factors, in patients treated and finished, at the orthodontics program clinic of an University. Methods: Data were obtained from clinical records, panoramic radiographs and final dental cast from 40 treated patients (21 women and 19 men), 15.97 ± 5.79 years old. The administrative variables included:  number of accomplished appointments, number of appointments per year of treatment, total number of missed appointments, total months of treatment, number of effective months of treatment, number of residents and instructors attending the patients and percentage of treatment planning for next appointment. Clinical variables included: malocclusion complexity, quality of finalization, teeth extractions, age and number of orthodontic appliance issues/breakages. Results: The average ± SD treatment duration was 55.5 ± 22.2 months. In patients with dental extractions, treatment time was significantly higher (p=0.0231). A model of multiple linear regression explained 59% of the variability, identifying four significant variables, two related to administration (number of missed appointments and number of instructors) and two clinical variables (number of orthodontic appliance issues/breakages and quality of finalization). Conclusion: Significant clinical and administrative issues were detected and it was observed that excessive time for treatment may deteriorate the static clinical results achieved.

Objective: This non-randomized controlled clinical trial compared a new finishing protocol UDEA2 with the UDEA1 finishing protocol, according to the Objective Grading System (ogs). Methods: Forty-one patients treated in the postgraduate orthodontics clinic were included. Twenty patients served as intervention group (ig) with whom was used the UDEA2 protocol which includes dental positioners, and were compared to twenty-one patients that served as control group (cg) with whom was used the UDEA1 finishing protocol. An orthodontist (gold standard) determined the required movements with positioners used in the UDEA2 protocol. Eight ogs variables were measured by a calibrated clinician. Results: Both groups were comparable in gender, age and severity, but not in type of treatment applied. The total ogs for gc was 28.9±10.0, for ig at T1 (before the positioner) was 20.4±6.0 and the score for ig at T2 (after the positioner) was 19.2±6.0, with statistically significant differences (P≤0.05). The ogs score was principally increased for “alignment” in gc and ig-T1 groups. This variable decreased significantly in the ig-T2 group. There were no patients with more than 30 points in the ig-T2. The regression analysis showed an association (P=0.002) between the finishing protocol applied and the final ogs score. Possibility of belonging to the ig-T2 decreases as the ogs score increases (odds ratio [or] 0.83; 95% confidence interval [CI] 0.738, 0.933). Conclusions: The implementation of the UDEA2 finishing protocol, which includes an orthodontics student’s constant training, a Finishing Protocol Guide application, and a dental positioner in the finishing phase, showed an improvement in quality of orthodontic treatments.