Dental Age Estimation in Belgian Children: Demirjian's Technique Revisited

Abstract

Aim: The purpose of this study was to evaluate the accuracy of Demirjian's dental age estimation (1,2) in children in a Belgian Caucasian population and to adapt the scoring system in case of a significant overestimation as frequently reported. We selected 2523 orthopantomograms of 1265 boys and 1258 girls, of which 2116 (1029 boys and 1087 girls) were used for estimating the dental age with the Demirjian's technique. The 407 other orthopantomograms were beyond the original age limit (1). A second sample of 355 orthopantomograms was used to evaluate the accuracy of the original method and the adapted method. A signed-rank test was performed to search for significant age differences between the obtained dental age and the chronological age. A weighted ANOVA was performed in order to adapt the scoring system for this Belgian population. The overestimation of the chronological age was confirmed. The adapted scoring system resulted in new age scores expressed in years and in a higher accuracy compared to the original method in Belgian Caucasians.

Estimating age and the likelihood of having attained 18 years of age using mandibular third molars

“…38 It is unclear if these studies used independent target and reference samples. Mean absolute difference using M3 to estimate age differed considerably to the value of 0.66 year using earlier developing teeth and the method of Willems et al 41 (n = 827 developing teeth, n = 946 age 3-16 years). 42 …”

Accuracy of Four Dental Age Estimation Methods in Southern Indian Children

“…Numerous studies have been done using Demirjian et al, method in several populations and consistent overestimation [2,3,8,[19][20][21][22] and underestimation [23] in dental age was observed. Similarly Willems method also showed significant overestimation [24,25], and underestimation [26], Nolla's method also showed overestimation in young children [27][28][29][30][31], and underestimation [32] and significant difference in one sex [33,34] in previous studies.…”

“…assessment of dental age using demirjian, willems, nolla and adopted haavikko methods: Digital OPGs of all children were used to assess the status of maturation on the basis of calcification of the left seven mandibular permanent teeth (except third molar) according to the following methods: Demirjian [6], Willems [8], Nolla [4], and adopted Haavikko [16] [ Table/ Fig-2-6]. …”

“…Each stage of the left mandibular seven teeth was allocated a score and the sum of the scores gave an evaluation of the subject's dental maturity and the dental age was calculated using the sex specific tables. Dental age was also calculated using Willems et al, [8] adjusted scores using tooth stages of Demirjian.…”

All in her head

“…Dental age assessment is carried out using methods parallel to ours in Norway, 13 Belgium, 14 Germany, 15 Spain, 16 Italy 17 and Austria. 18 The problem of estimating the age of asylum seekers will not go away.…”