Assessment of dental maturity of western Chinese children using Demirjian's method

Age estimation plays an important role in forensic medicine and orthodontics. Dental maturity, expressed as dental age, is one of the common indices for age estimation. Demirjian's method, first described in 1973 and based on a large number of French-Canadian samples, is one of the most widely used methods for dental age assessment. The aim of this study is to evaluate the applicability of Demirjian's method for dental age estimation in western Chinese children. Digital panoramic radiographs of 445 children of western Chinese origin, ranging from 8 to 16 years old, were assessed in Demirjian's method. The dental maturity scores (DMSs) and dental ages of all the subjects were calculated by a single observer. The dental ages were compared to the chronological ages with a paired t-test. The general trend in this research showed that the western Chinese children demonstrated a more advanced dental age compared to French-Canadian children as previously presented by Demirjian. The mean difference in each age group between the dental age and chronological age ranged from 0.0071 to 1.2500 years in girls and from -1.0000 to 1.3000 years in boys. The standards of dental age assessment provided by Demirjian for French-Canadian children may be not suitable for western Chinese children. As a result, specific standards of dental age assessment should be established for this population.