ACCURACY OF ESTIMATING AGE FROM CERVICAL VERTEBRAL MATURATION AND MANDIBULAR MOLAR MATURATION

Abstract

Age estimation is required for forensic cases such as minors without documentation and age disputed by asylum seekers. Cervical vertebral maturation (CVM) has potential to estimate age as a new method of analysis of shape change during adolescence and adulthood. The aim of this study was to assess the accuracy of estimating age using Lamparski’s method of cervical vertebra maturation, the mandibular second (M2) and third molars (M3) in a group of males. The test sample consisted of lateral cephalograms of 60 boys from the Bolton-Brush online collection and 53 from Burlington online collection aged 10 to 15 years. CVM age was calculated from age category and mean age and transition age of CVM stages, calculated from raw data of 69 boys (aged 9 to 15 years) studied by Lamparski (1972). Dental age was calculated using mandibular second and third molar stages from Liversidge (2009). The mean difference and absolute mean difference between CVM age and dental ages and chronological ages was calculated. CVM and molar tooth stage assessment reliability was assessed by duplicate readings by the first author. Results show that Lamparski’s method of CVM mean age was most accurate and had considerably smaller standard deviation and smallest absolute mean difference than other method of M2 or M3 (mean difference -0.49, SD 0.23, absolute mean difference 0.49 years). CVM has potential as a possible method of estimating age for this age group, particularly when M2 is mature or M3 is missing.