Incremental lines in human dental cementum in relation to age

Counting incremental lines in dental cementum is an accepted method for estimating age in many wild mammals. In human teeth such countings have given variable results, and the aim of the present investigation was to find out if one incremental line is formed per year in human teeth as well. Canines and single-rooted premolars were demineralized, paraffin wax-embedded, sectioned and stained, and the sections were viewed in a fluorescence microscope. Non-fluorescent lines, seen against a fluorescent background, were either counted directly or their number calculated by counting only some of them and computing this on the total width of the cementum. The correlation coefficient between tooth age and the number of lines for the whole material was = 0.84 when counted and = 0.73 when calculated. This coefficient was stronger in mandibular second premolars but lower in teeth extracted because of dental diseases. The coefficient was only significant in teeth from individuals below the age of 50 yr. The regression formula with tooth age as dependent variable indicated that only incremental lines formed in about every other year stained sufficiently to be counted.