Abstract
BackgroundGlobally, the need for an accurate and valid method for age estimation in adults still exists. The aging process is associated with secondary dentine deposition that reduces the volume of teeth pulp. Therefore, dental age could be recognized from the volume of pulp cavity. The aim of this study was to assess the accuracy and validity of pulp chamber/crown volume ratio of maxillary and mandibular canines in estimating age using cone beam computed tomography (CBCT) images in a sample of the Egyptian population.ResultsThere were significant strong negative correlations between age and each of the maxillary pulp chamber volume (PCV), mandibular PCV, maxillary pulp chamber/crown volume (PCV/CV) ratio, and mandibular PCV/CV ratio (p < 0.001). Furthermore, no significant differences were detected between both sexes regarding the mean maxillary and mandibular PCV and PCV/CV ratios (p > 0.05). The best fit regression model for age prediction was as follows: age (years) = 70.21 − 784.0x maxillary PCV/CV ratio − 1.66x maxillary PCV. The proposed model showed good power of prediction (R2 adjusted = 0.951). Additionally, the model was validated on an independent sample of 100 CBCT images with a root mean squared error (RMSE) of 2.86 years.ConclusionThe obtained valid regression formula in this study can serve as a reliable tool for age estimation in Egyptians. This formula should be further validated on a larger sample size of the Egyptian population that considers more steady age distribution.
Highlights
The need for an accurate and valid method for age estimation in adults still exists
Dental age estimation methods have a great value as the teeth are less affected by genetic, nutritional, and hormonal factors as well as pathological changes compared to the bones (Uğur Aydın and Bayrak 2019)
The present study demonstrated significant strong inverse correlations between the chronological age and each of maxillary pulp chamber volume (PCV), mandibular PCV, maxillary PCV/ CV ratio, and mandibular pulp chamber/crown volume (PCV/CV) ratio
Summary
The need for an accurate and valid method for age estimation in adults still exists. Legal decisions in many situations such as immigrants, refugees, competency to consent, Dental age estimation methods have a great value as the teeth are less affected by genetic, nutritional, and hormonal factors as well as pathological changes compared to the bones (Uğur Aydın and Bayrak 2019). The inner dental pulp is composed of mesenchymal tissue It consists of a large central pulp chamber which imitates the whole shape of the tooth crown (Melo and Ata-Ali 2017). The pulp chamber volume could be altered by the aging process (Gulsahi et al 2018)
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