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Dental maturation in British children: are Demirjian's standards applicable?
H M Liversidge1, T Speechly, M P Hector
1Department of Paediatric Dentistry, St Bartholomews and the Royal London School of Medicine and Dentistry, UK. h.m.liversidge@mds.qmw.ac.uk
Objective:
The objective of this study was to determine if the standards of dental maturation of Demirjian et al. (1973, 1976) are applicable to British children.
Design:
The design was cross-sectional, retrospective.
Sample And Method:
The sample comprised 521 London children of Bangladeshi and white Caucasian (English, Welsh and Scottish) origin aged between 4 and 9 years. Dental age was assessed by crown and root stages of seven mandibular teeth from rotational pantomographs. Dental age was compared to chronological age using a t-test.
Results:
Differences in dental maturation between the two ethnic groups were not significant. British children as a group were dentally advanced compared to the Canadian standards. The mean (+/- standard deviation) advancement in girls was 0.51 +/- 0.79 years and in boys was 0.73 +/- 0.73 years.
Conclusions:
The standards of dental maturation described by Demirjian et al. (1973, 1976) may not be suitable for British children.