Comparative assessment to determine the accuracy of Demirjian and DARLInG methods of dental age estimation in western Indian children.

Abstract

The aim of this study is to compare the accuracy of Demirjian and Dental Age Research London Information Group (DARLInG) methods of dental age estimation in western Indian children. A total of 485 dental panoramic radiographs of children aged between 4 and 15 years were included in this study. Dental age was estimated based on the degree of mineralization of permanent teeth in the left side of the arch. Dental age was estimated from the scores obtained from the Demirjian and DARLInG's United Kingdom Caucasian datasets respectively. The difference between the chronological age (CA) and dental age (DA) in each range (CA-DA) was analysed using paired t-test. The age and sex-based differences of the estimated age using the two methods were tested using ANOVA and Pearson correlation co-efficient analysis. The overall mean CA was 8.74 years and 9.00 years for boys and girls respectively. The overall mean difference (CA-DA) using the Demirjian's method for boys and girls were -0.68 years and -0.52 years respectively (p < 0.05). Using the DARLInG's method, the overall mean difference (CA-DA) was -0.31 years and -0.34 years for boys and girls respectively (p < 0.05). Between the two methods, significant differences were observed in different age groups (p < 0.05). Pearson correlation coefficient showed significant positive correlation between dental age estimated from the Demirjian and DARLInG methods (p < 0.05). The DARLInG method provided better estimate of age compared to Demirjian method in the western Indian population. However, an ethnic specific reference dataset specific to this population would likely produce accurate age estimates.