Abstract: PURPOSE: To study the growth phases and quantities of mandible in Shanghai adolescents. METHODS: The samples included 480 Shanghai adolescents from 8-20 years of age, 240 were male and 240 were female. Both male and female groups were divided into 6 consecutive developmental periods according to cervical vertebral maturation stages. Their cephalometric radiographs were measured and analyzed. Independent-sample t test was conducted by SPSS 15.0 software package. RESULTS: The total mandibular length (Co-Gn) increased significantly from CVMS1 to CVMS2 and CVMS3 to CVMS4 in both male and female group. For male the maximum increase was from CVMS3 to CVMS4 (P<0.01,average 9.54 mm), while female was from CVMS1 to CVMS2(P<0.01,average 9.09 mm). The height of mandibular ramus (Co-Go) increased continuously from CVMS2 to CVMS5 in male group, the significant increase was observed from CVMS2 to CVMS3 (P<0.01, average 8.80 mm). The significant increase in female group was observed from CVMS1 to CVMS2 (P<0.01, average 6.51 mm). In male group, the greatest increase of the mandibular base length (Go-Pog) appeared from CVMS3 to CVMS4 (P<0.01, average 7.55 mm), while in female group, it occurred from CVMS1 to CVMS2 (P<0.01, average 5.73 mm). CONCLUSIONS: The growth amounts of total mandibular length (Co-Gn), mandibular base length (Go-Pog) and ramus length are different at every CVM stages in male and female groups. The present finding will help to make reasonable diagnosis and treatment planning.

Key words: Mandible, Cervical vertebrae, Cephalometric radiographs, Shanghai