The purpose of the study was to determine if the developmental stages of permanent mandibular second molar alone can be used as reliable indicator for assessment of skeletal maturity. One hundred seventy children within the age group of 7–16 years requiring orthodontic and dentofacial orthopedic treatment were selected and intraoral periapical radiographs of right mandibular second molar and middle phalanx of right middle finger were recorded to evaluate the dental and skeletal maturation status and were assessed by modified Demirjian‘s and Rajagopal & Kansal criteria respectively. The recorded data was subjected to statistical analysis using Spearman rank correlation coefficient. The observations highlighted significant association(p<0.001) with good concordance between second molar calcification stages and modified MP3 stages in both boys(rho = 0.870) and girls(rho = 0.918) suggesting that skeletal maturity evaluation, which was conventionally done by high radiation dose diagnostic aids can be done by simple periapical radiographic evaluation of mandibular second molar calcification stages.