Orthopantomography and the determination of majority age

The problem of determining a subject's age to ascertain whether he can be criminally charged brings to prominence all the methods of investigation which can be used to define a person's biological age. The methodologies used to determine dental age still represent today the most sensitive means of arriving at this end. Researchers in Turin in 1980 elaborated an equational formula to determine a subject's presumable age by means of orthopantomography, basing the examination on the mineralization times of 4.5, 4.7, 4.8. After thorough checks carried out on sample groups of urban inhabitants, it was noted that the phases of mineralization of the 3rd molar can provide an answer to the judicial authorities' query as to whether the subject in question has come of age. The phase of mineralization of the 3rd molar is evaluated according to the table we have proposed during a previous conference and in another paper, which establishes 12 phases of mineralization. Focusing our attention on the final 12th phase, corresponding to the complete mineralization of the tooth roots, it was noted that this was present in 93 subjects, of whom 43 male and 50 female. A check of the personal data of these subjects revealed that for the male group age was between 6875 and 9396 days (between 18 years 10 months and 25 years 9 months), whereas for the female group age was between 6711 and 9275 days (between 18 years 4 months and 25 years 5 months). In other words, none of the subjects was found to be under 18 years of age.