## 3 Results

Table 2: BALP (ng/mL) and OC (ng/mL) in saliva among maturation stages (CS). \begin{table}
\begin{tabular}{c c c c c} \hline \hline
**C5 Stages** & **n** & **Mean (SD)** & **Median (Min, Max)** & \(p\)**-Value \({}^{*}\)** \\ \hline \multicolumn{4}{c}{BALP (ng/mL)} \\ \hline
1 & 11 & 13.98 (10.7) & 14.40 (1.04, 33.58) & \\
2 & 11 & 9.98 (7.79) & 7.32 (0.54, 24.26) & \\
3 & 7 & 27.7 (31.85) & 17.98 (7.92, 98.44) & \\
4 & 13 & 15.66 (12.95) & 14.40 (0.60, 47.08) & \\
5 & 10 & 12.84 (5.93) & 11.31 (6.54, 23.12) & \\
6 & 1 & 12.28 & 12.28 (12.28, 12.28) & \\ \hline Total & 53 & 15.13 (14.97) & 12.28 (0.54, 98.44) & \\ \hline \hline \end{tabular} \({}^{*}\)Kruskal-Wallis test; CS: Cervical stage; SD: Standard deviation; BALP: Bone alkaline phosphatase.  
\end{table} 
Table 2: BALP (ng/mL) and OC (ng/mL) in saliva among maturation stages (CS). \begin{table}
\begin{tabular}{c c c c} \hline \hline
**Pubertal Stages** & **n** & **Mean (SD)** & **Median (Min, Max)** & \(p\)**-Value \({}^{*}\)** \\ \hline Pre-pubertalal (CS1–CS2) & 22 & 11.98 (9.37) & 10.08 (0.54, 33.58) & \\ Pubertal (CS3–CS4) & 20 & 19.87 (21.47) & 15.17 (0.60, 98.44) & \\ Post-pubertalal (CS5–CS6) & 11 & 12.79 (5.63) & 12.28 (6.54, 23.12) & \\ \hline \hline \end{tabular} \({}^{*}\)Kruskal-Wallis test; CS: Cervical stage; SD: Standard deviation; BALP: Bone alkaline phosphatase.  
\end{table} 
Table 3: Level of BALP (ng/mL) in saliva according to the pubertal growth phase. In addition, the above comparisons were performed separately for boys and girls. However, as expected, no statistically significant differences were found between the three skeletal age subgroups relative to the biomarker concentrations (\(p\)-values ranged from 0.316 to 0.775). Regarding boys, pubertal boys had a higher BALP concentration (28.57 ng/mL) than pre-pubertal boys (12.52 ng/mL); nevertheless, this difference was not statistically significant (\(p\) = 0.316). OC values were also higher in pubertal boys (1.47 ng/mL) compared to pre-pubertal boys (1.08 ng/mL) but this difference was also not statistically significant (\(p\) = 0.775). There were no boys at the post-pubertal stage in this research. In girls, BALP concentration showed higher values at the pubertal stage (16.95 ng/mL), followed by the post-pubertalal and pre-pubertalal stages, but these differences were not statistically significant (\(p\) = 0.448). In Group 3, where the sample was categorized into only two maturation subgroups, the Mann-Whitney test showed that there were again no statistically significant differences concerning the concentration of these biomarkers in saliva. BALP values were almost on the same levels, as shown in Table 5. In the premature group, the mean value was 15.78 ng/mL, while in the late mature group, it was 14.34 ng/mL (\(p\) = 0.849). OC values showed a similar pattern (Table 6). In the premature group, the mean OC level was 1.54 ng/mL and in the late mature group, it was 1.37 ng/mL. These differences were also not statistically significant (\(p\) = 0.562). Separate statistical analyses were also implemented for boys and girls but as expected, no statistically significant results were found. Regarding BALP in boys, higher values were observed in the premature subgroup with 18.1 ng/mL compared to the late mature subgroup with 10.47 ng/mL (\(p\) = 0.598). This outcome was expected since premature subgroup OC in boys showed a similar pattern, with higher values in the premature subgroup with 1.32 ng/mL (\(p\) = 0.171). It is worth mentioning that in the late mature subgroup, there were only two boys since, as previously mentioned, no boys were categorized in skeletal subgroups CS5 and CS6. In skeletal maturation subgroup 3 (CS3), higher BALP values were primarily observed. In girls, BALP values were almost at the same levels in the premature (11.98 ng/mL) and late mature subgroups (14.70 ng/mL). This difference was not statistically significant (\(p\) = 0.418).