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Age determination is a major field of interest in forensic anthropology. Among the different methods based on macroscopic skeletal study, the Suchey-Brooks method, which analyzes the pubic symphysis, is one of the most reliable. We applied the Suchey-Brooks method to three-dimensional computed tomographic reconstructions of the pubic symphysis. We demonstrated excellent agreement between the results of analysis of bone samples and those of the three-dimensional images, in particular regarding ridges of the articular surface and delimitation of the extremities. The accuracy of age estimation did not significantly differ (Wilcoxon test) between the Suchey-Brooks method applied to bones and the same method applied to CT images. Using high-quality images, this approach seems as reliable as the standard Suchey-Brooks method and offers several advantages: no bone preparation, no damage to bone material, and the possibility of application to living individuals.

Objectives: The various types of cone beam CT (CBCT) differ in several technical characteristics, notably their spatial resolution, which is defined by the acquisition voxel size. However, data are still lacking on the effects of voxel size on the metric accuracy of threedimensional (3D) reconstructions. This study was designed to assess the effect of isotropic voxel size on the 3D reconstruction accuracy and reproducibility of CBCT data. Methods: The study sample comprised 70 teeth (from the Institut d'Anatomie Normale, Strasbourg, France). The teeth were scanned with a KODAK 9500 3DH CBCT (Carestream Health, Inc., Marne-la-Vallée, France), which has two voxel sizes: 200 mm (CBCT 200 mm group) and 300 mm (CBCT 300 mm group). These teeth had also been scanned with the KODAK 9000 3DH CBCT (Carestream Health, Inc.) (CBCT 76 mm group) and the SCANCO Medical micro-CT XtremeCT (SCANCO Medical, Brü ttisellen, Switzerland) (micro-CT 41 mm group) considered as references. After semi-automatic segmentation with AMIRAH software (Visualization Sciences Group, Burlington, MA), tooth volumetric measurements were obtained. Results: The Bland-Altman method showed no difference in tooth volumes despite a slight underestimation for the CBCT 200 mm and 300 mm groups compared with the two reference groups. The underestimation was statistically significant for the volumetric measurements of the CBCT 300 mm group relative to the two reference groups (Passing-Bablok method). Conclusions: CBCT is not only a tool that helps in diagnosis and detection but it has the complementary advantage of being a measuring instrument, the accuracy of which appears connected to the size of the voxels. Future applications of such measurements with CBCT are discussed.

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