Dental Age Estimation in A Sample of Kurdish Subjects (Aged 9-15 Years Old) in Erbil City Adopting Demirjian Method A Radiographic Study

Abstract

Background and objectives: Dental maturation is widely used to assess maturity and to predict age. Age estimation plays a great role in clinical dentistry, especially in orthodontics, pedodontics and forensic dentistry and aid in diagnosis and treatment planning. Demirjian method is one of a commonly used methods. The aim of this study was to find out the applicability of Demirjian's method for dental age estimation for Kurdish subjects in Erbil City.Methods: The study was conducted on orthopantomograms of 125 Kurdish subjects (65 males, 60 females) in Erbil City, their ages ranged between 9 to 15 years old. Demirjian method was used to assess dental age based on the degree of mineralization of the seven left mandibular teeth, and t-tests were used to assess the difference between dental age and chronological age. Results: A strong linear correlation between dental and chronological ages for both males and females were observed (r = 0.845, 0.893). The mean difference between the chronological and dental ages showed an overestimation of 0.18 and 0.56 years for males and females respectively. Conclusion: Demirjian's method of dental age estimation showed accuracy in most age groups (except in 9 and 12 age groups in females) in Kurdish subjects in Erbil City.