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Dental age assessment and dental scoring systems: combined different statistical methods

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International Journal of Legal Medicine Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Introduction

Age Estimation has been considered as a human basic right, carried out through the use of tables for dental age assessment based on the chronology of tooth eruption. As such, the final aim of this investigation is to create tables with applicability to the Portuguese population, for the different scoring systems used and combined different statistical approaches.

Materials and methods

For this purpose, dental age assessment was achieved in all four third molars, using different scoring systems, in a total sample of 626 orthopantomograms (324 females, 302 males), aged between 12 and 25 years old, from the database population of Lisbon North University Hospital Center, approved by the Ethic Committee.

Results

The values of validation showed excellent results both on precision and on reproducibility. Mostly all methods showed statistically significant differences between the estimated age and the chronological age and, therefore, the presence of estimation errors. Kullman’s and Mincer’s methods are the ones with best applicability in the Portuguese population, in the lower third molars. The reliability measures (sensitivity, specificity and accuracy) values decrease as age increases.

Conclusion

A combination of the scoring systems as a protocol for dental age assessment in Portuguese nationality was established. Tables, for all the scoring systems used, were made with applicability in the Portuguese population.

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Data availability

All data were registered, including data that was deleted or changed. Anonymized data were exported for statistical calculations. After the database lock, the data was saved according to current regulations.

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Acknowledgements

The authors would like to thank Centro de Estatística e Aplicações da Universidade de Lisboa, CEAUL, FCT – Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia, Grant Project reference UIDB/00006/2020 for supporting this research (https://doi.org/10.54499/UIDB/00006/2020), as well as Professor Francisco Salvado the Director of the Stomatology Department of Hospital Universitário de Santa Maria for help concretizing this study.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Faculdade de Medicina Dentária, Universidade de Lisboa, Rua Professora Teresa Ambrósio, Lisboa, 1600-277, Portugal

    Cristiana Palmela Pereira, Ana Rodrigues, Diana Augusto & Adriana Santos

  2. Grupo Análise Forense, Centro de Estatística e Aplicações da Universidade de Lisboa, Bloco C6 - Piso 4, Lisboa, 1749-016, Portugal

    Cristiana Palmela Pereira, Ana Rodrigues, Diana Augusto & Rui Santos

  3. Faculdade de Medicina, Universidade de Lisboa, Lisbon, Portugal

    Cristiana Palmela Pereira & Valon Nushic

  4. Escola Superior de Tecnologia e Gestão, Instituto Politécnico de Leiria, Campus 2 - Morro do Lena, Alto do Vieiro, Apt 4163, Edifício D, Leiria, 2411-901, Portugal

    Rui Santos

  5. Grupo FORENSEMED, Centro UICOB, Faculdade de Medicina Dentária da Universidade de Lisboa. Cidade Universitária, Rua Professora Teresa Ambrósio, Lisboa, 1600-277, Portugal

    Cristiana Palmela Pereira, Ana Rodrigues & Diana Augusto

Authors
  1. Cristiana Palmela Pereira
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  2. Ana Rodrigues
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  3. Diana Augusto
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  4. Adriana Santos
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  6. Rui Santos
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Cristiana Palmela Pereira.

Ethics declarations

Ethical approval

Study performed was approved and realized in accordance with the ethical standards specified by Ethics Committee of the Faculty of Medicine, University of Lisbon, Portugal.

Informed consent

All procedures performed in studies involving human participants were in accordance with the ethical standards of the institutional and/or national research committee and with the 1964 Helsinki declaration and its later amendments or comparable ethical standards. No informed consent was obtained since this was a retrospective study based on anonymized clinical records.

CRediT authors

Conceptualization: Cristiana Palmela Pereira.

Resources: Cristiana Palmela Pereira.

Formal Analysis: Rui Santos.

Supervision: Cristiana Palmela Pereira.

Validation: Ana Rodrigues, Valon Nushic.

Investigation: Cristiana Palmela Pereira, Rui Santos, Ana Rodrigues, Diana Augusto, Adriana Santos, Valon Nushic.

Methodology: Cristiana Palmela Pereira, Rui Santos.

Writing-original Draft: Ana Rodrigues.

Writing – review and editing: Cristiana Palmela Pereira, Rui Santos.

Project Admnistration: Cristiana Palmela Pereira.

Conflict of interest

All authors have participated in this study and there is no conflict of interest.

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Pereira, C.P., Rodrigues, A., Augusto, D. et al. Dental age assessment and dental scoring systems: combined different statistical methods. Int J Legal Med (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00414-024-03216-0

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