Age estimation of Malawian adults from dental radiographs

Previous studies have shown that with advancing age the size of the dental pulp cavity is reduced as a result of secondary dentine deposit, so that measurements of this reduction can be used as an indicator of age. Age estimation is one of the indicators used in forensic identification and teeth are biological markers for human age estimation.

We measured the height (mm) of the crown (CH = Coronal Height) and the height (mm) of the coronal pulp cavity (CPCH = Coronal pulp cavity height) of premolars and molars of 134 adult Malawians (77 males, 57 females) aged 20 - 80 years from dental radiographs. The Tooth-Coronal Index (TCI) was computed for each tooth and regressed on real age.

The correlation coefficients ranged from r -0.650 to -0.799 and were significant in both gender, in premolars and molars (P < 0.01). The equations obtained allowed estimation of age with an error of +/- 5 years in our studied population, the molar equation estimated age better for males while the premolar equation was for female and combined samples. The percentage accuracy levels of our sample population were higher than Caucasians previously reported using similar methods.

Our study demonstrates the potential value of this method of age estimation which is precise, simple, non invasive and applicable to both living individuals and skeletal materials of unknown age.