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Use of third molar eruption based on Gambier’s criteria in assessing dental age

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Abstract

The biological aspects of determining the dental age of subadults represent an important interdisciplinary scientific link with applications in criminal law and in forensic anthropology and dentistry. In criminal procedural law, it is necessary to determine the exact age of an undocumented person in view of the application of the provisions on juvenile offenders and minor victims. Chronological age can be estimated from the development of the third molars, as these are the only teeth that develop at the age of 18. The aim of this study was to verify the applicability of the Gambier method based on the eruption of the third permanent molars in the mandible and maxilla, to contribute to forensic age assessment. The analyzed group that met the criteria consisted of 811 orthopantomograms (OPGs) (339 females and 472 males) between the ages of 13 and 25 years. The OPGs were retrospectively analyzed according to the method of Gambier et al. (Int J Legal Med 133:625–632, 29), which refers to the eruption stages of the third molar. Differences between eruption stages of maxillary and mandibular third molars were statistically significant in both biological sexes. Intersexual differences in mean age were significant only at stage 3 for any M3 tooth and at stage 1 for mandibular M3. There were no statistically significant differences between the left and right mandibular and maxillary third molars, respectively. Differences between mandibular and maxillary M3 were significant only for stage 1 in males on the left side and for stage 2 in both sexes and sides. The method used allowed the best classification of individuals into minor and adult groups (based on phase D—90.41% of individuals, based on the third stage of the mandibular left third molar—86.29%). Based on the results obtained, we can assume that the method cannot be used alone in the initial examination of living individuals, since all four third molars must be assessed and there are no additional findings from practice.

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Acknowledgements

The authors thank the anonymous reviewers for their efforts and valuable comments, which helped to improve the quality of the manuscript and make it worthy of publication.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Anthropology, Faculty of Natural Sciences, Comenius University in Bratislava, Mlynská Dolina, 842 15, Bratislava, Slovak Republic

    Petra Švábová nee Uhrová, Radoslav Beňuš, Mária Chovancová nee Kondeková & Adriana Vojtušová

  2. Department of Stomatology and Maxillofacial Surgery, Faculty of Medicine, Comenius University in Bratislava, Špitálska 24, 813 72, Bratislava, Slovak Republic

    Andrej Thurzo

  3. Dental Clinic, Kvetoslavov 1155, 93041, Kvetoslavov, Slovak Republic

    Miroslav Novotný

Authors
  1. Petra Švábová nee Uhrová
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  2. Radoslav Beňuš
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  3. Mária Chovancová nee Kondeková
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  4. Adriana Vojtušová
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  5. Miroslav Novotný
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  6. Andrej Thurzo
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Contributions

All authors contributed to the conception and design. Material preparation, data collection, and analysis were performed by Petra Švábová (nee Uhrová), Radoslav Beňuš, Andrej Thurzo, Miroslav Novotný, and Adriana Vojtušová. Formal analysis and study were carried out by Petra Švábová (nee Uhrová), Mária Chovancová (nee Kondeková), Adriana Vojtušová, and Miroslav Novotný. The first draft of the manuscript was written by Petra Švábová (nee Uhrová), and all authors commented on previous versions of the manuscript. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.

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Correspondence to Petra Švábová nee Uhrová.

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The present study was performed retrospectively using data collected from dental practitioners. All procedures performed comply with ethical standards, the statute of the local Ethics Committee for Research Involving Human Subjects at the Faculty of Natural Sciences of Comenius University in Bratislava, Slovakia, as well as relevant legal regulations and the Declaration of Helsinki.

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Švábová nee Uhrová, P., Beňuš, R., Chovancová nee Kondeková, M. et al. Use of third molar eruption based on Gambier’s criteria in assessing dental age. Int J Legal Med 137, 691–699 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00414-023-02953-y

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00414-023-02953-y

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