Comparison of Cameriere's and Demirjian's methods of age estimation among children in Kerala: a pilot study

The aim was to compare age estimation using Cameriere's and Demirjian's methods to chronologic age in children with mixed dentition in a rural population of Kerala. The present study comprised of 10 subjects of age range 7-12 years. Dental age was assessed using Cameriere's and Demirjian's methods and was compared to the chronologic age. Panoramic radiographs were used for assessment of dental age. Data were analysed using paired t-test. The mean of difference obtained was 0.92 and the pvalue was 0.172 which showed insignificant difference between the two methods. Cameriere's method showed a positive linear correlation (0.6393) with chronologic age and was statistically significant (P=0.0171), whereas Demirjian's method showed a negative correlation (-0.7598) and was statistically insignificant (P=0.9967). The present study indicated that Cameriere's method is reliable for age estimation in our population and is more accurate than Demirjian's method.