Progress in the study of four dental age inference methods in the age inference of children and adolescents

Abstract

The age of the human individual is an important element of the individual's biological information. Over time, many irreversible ageing changes occur in several organs and tissues of the human body, and in forensic medicine, age interpretation has an extremely important link to the identification of identity in criminal cases, the division of sentencing in juvenile and child crime[1], and the determination of the age of lost persons in missing persons. In previous studies, bone age such as wrist bone, vertebral bone and sternum are often used for age prediction. Bone age can be used as a preliminary evaluation of age, but due to the influence of congenital genetics, racial differences and acquired environment, it may result in poorly developed bone tissue, bringing interference to the process of interpretation and eventually leading to distorted data [2]. The tooth is the hardest human tissue and its tissue structure also contributes to its extremely high stability. Compared to skeletal maturation, teeth are less likely to be altered during growth and development due to changes in the external environment [3-4], which allows it to be used more often in events that require individual identity interpretation. One of the most common methods of estimating dental age is radiological examination to assess the degree of calcification [5], and imaging of the oral cavity is also very common in modern clinical medicine. This article reviews and summarises the research progress and analyses the advantages and disadvantages of four different methods of age estimation applicable to children and adolescents, and objectively evaluates the four different methods of dental age estimation.