Dental age estimation on Bosnian-Herzegovinian children aged 6-14 years: evaluation of Chaillet's international maturity standards

Abstract

Background: Dental age estimation in children plays an important role in forensic dentistry. The most commonly used method for age estimation was developed by Demirjian in 1973 on a French-Canadian sample. It generally overestimates dental age in many populations. International maturity standards were formed to obtain a predicted age with more confidence when ethnic origin was not available.

Objectives: The aim of this study was to evaluate the applicability of Chaillet's international scores in the dental age assessment on Bosnian Herzegovinian (BH) children.

Methods: Orthopantomograms of 1772 children, 980 girls and 792 boys aged 6.04-14.90 years, were assessed using Chaillet's international maturity tables and curves. The dental ages for both genders were compared to the chronological ages through a paired t-test.

Results: Mean overestimation using Chaillet's international maturity standards were 0.09 ± 0.83 for girls and 0.28 ± 0.90 for boys. The absolute accuracy of residuals between the dental and chronological age were 0.65 ± 0.52 years for girls (Median: 0.52 years) and 0.73 ± 0.60 years for boys (Median: 0.57 years).

Conclusion: The Polynomial compound formula was recommended to predict dental age with more accuracy for results of international maturity standards on BH children.