Comparative assessment of Demerijian\'s and Cameriere\'s dental age estimation in children - A panaromic radiographic study

Abstract

Age estimation in children is a fundamental question in forensic medicine and in treatment planning. Estimation of age is required to answer a variety of legal questions like status of majority and criminal liability such as in child marriage, sexual harassment and in situations where birth data is lacking or doubted.Various methods have been proposed for assessment of the dental maturation, but the most widely applied method is by Demirijian et al. Cameriere’s method is also used to assess chronological age in children with open apex. With this background, the present study was conducted to estimate the dental age of the children from open and closed apex.240 digital panoramic radiograph of patients aged between 5 and 15 years were taken randomly Dental age estimation was performed using by Demirijians and Cameriere‘s method.The mean difference between the chronological and dental age was found to be 3.93 and 0.17 for Demirijian’s and Cameriere’s age estimation method respectively. In Demirijian’s method, the accuracy was found more in older females where as in Cameriere’s method the accuracy was almost same in all the age groups and the precision was seen in males than in females, on comparison Cameriere’s age estimation method was more accurate than Demirijian’s method.Dental maturity can be used to assess chronological age in children either by Demirijian’s or Cameriere’s method, Cameriere’s method was more accurate than Demirijian’s method.