Individual variation of tooth development in Swedish children

The distributions of the developmental stages of the mandibular teeth have been studied according to the method by Demirjian et al (1973), in Swedish children. 197 panoramic radiographs of children aged 5, 6, 9 and 12 years were collected and examined by each of 13 independent pedodontists, radiologists and forensic odontologists. The results showed that the individual variation of tooth development was large, and that children of the same age generally showed a dispersion over four stages, and that, in extreme cases, children of 5 and 12 years of age could show the same developmental stages. Generally girls were ahead of the boys in development at all ages. It thus appears as if any method for age determination of children with aid of tooth development will be suffering from a rather wide range of uncertainty owing to the individual variation.