Modified Demirjian's method for dental age estimation in Kosovar children and adolescents

The aim was to provide normative data on dental age estimation in the Kosovar population, to evaluate the relationship between customized maturity scores and the original Demirjian method, and to assess the accuracy of these scores in a sample of Kosovar children and adolescents.

The study population consisted of 1106 digital panoramic radiographs randomly selected from 6- to 16-year-old patients treated at the University Dentistry Clinical Center of Kosovo. Only those images that were diagnostically acceptable, thus showing at least the left mandibular teeth, were included in the study to assess the developmental stage accurately.

Dental age estimates derived from the Kosovar normative tables were comparable to those based on maturity scores for the French-Canadian population. In girls aged 7.5-13 years and boys aged 7.5-12 years, dental maturity correlated strongly. However, the French-Canadian model overestimated age significantly compared to the Kosovar sample, where dental maturity started at about 6 years and peaked at 7 years. The Spearman's rho of the relationship between dental ages determined by Demirjian's method and maturity scores obtained from both populations was 0.997 for girls and 0.988 for boys. In conclusion, the present study demonstrates the need for population-specific adaptations of the Demirjian method and proves that modification of the method provides more reliable results when compared to the Kosovar population. The results indicate the possibility of further refinement of the Demirjian method for specific populations in order to improve the applicability and precision of the most commonly used method for age estimation.