Dental age estimation in Malay children based on all permanent teeth types

Area of Science:

• Forensic Odontology
• Anthropology
• Pediatric Dentistry

Background:

• Dental age estimation is crucial in forensic and pediatric contexts.
• The Willems et al. model is a widely used method for dental age assessment.
• Adaptation of existing models is necessary for diverse populations.

Purpose of the Study:

• To verify the applicability of the Willems et al. model on Malay children.
• To develop and validate a Malay-specific dental age prediction model.
• To analyze the impact of incorporating third molars into the model.

Main Methods:

• Collected panoramic radiographs of 1,403 Malay individuals (4-23.99 years).
• Scored permanent teeth using Demirjian's technique and converted to age via Willems et al. method.
• Staged third molar development using Gleiser and Hunt modified by Kohler.
• Calculated age differences using Mean Error (ME), Mean Absolute Error (MAE), and Root Mean Square Error (RMSE).

Main Results:

• The original Willems et al. model overestimated chronological age in Malay children (ME ≈ 0.45 years).
• The developed Malay-specific model showed small differences in ME, MAE, and RMSE compared to the original model.
• Adding third molar stages resulted in a negligible decrease in RMSE.

Conclusions:

• The Willems et al. model is applicable to Malay children with slight overestimation.
• A Malay-specific model offers minimal improvement over the original.
• Third molar inclusion provides a marginal benefit to dental age estimation accuracy in this population.