Bias and accuracy of age estimation using developing teeth in 946 children

Area of Science:

• Forensic Anthropology
• Pediatric Dentistry
• Radiology

Background:

• Dental age estimation is crucial for forensic and anthropological assessments.
• Existing methods vary in accuracy, necessitating a comparative analysis.

Purpose of the Study:

• To evaluate and identify the most accurate dental age estimation method among widely used techniques.
• To compare the performance of dental maturity scales and individual tooth-based methods.

Main Methods:

• Analysis of 946 dental radiographs (ages 3–16) from Maber et al.
• Application of four dental maturity scales and fifteen individual tooth methods.
• Calculation of bias, mean absolute difference, and percentage accuracy within 6 months and 10% of real age.

Main Results:

• Most methods exhibited significant bias, over-aging younger children and under-aging older ones.
• The Willems et al. dental maturity scale showed the best performance (bias: −0.14 ± 0.86 years).
• Individual teeth P2 and M2 showed minimal bias with specific reference samples; accuracy varied by tooth development stage.

Conclusions:

• The Willems et al. dental maturity scale is recommended for accurate dental age estimation in the 3–16 age range.
• Improvements in individual tooth methods can be achieved by adjusting stage transition schedules and utilizing uniform age distributions.
• Accurate dental age estimation requires careful selection of methods and consideration of developmental stages.