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Abstract
Age estimation is important in the practice of forensic science to establish the identity of human remains, as well as with living persons. Particularly in Korea, age estimation in adults has been increase in the demand for incorrect birth records in order to be entitled to civil liability, social benefits, employment. The reduction of pulp cavity size as a result of secondary dentin deposit with increasing age could be used to estimate age. This regressive change can be analyzed using radiological techniques; thus, a variety of methods for dental age estimation based on this approach have been proposed. The purpose of this study is to evaluate the concurrence between the Drusini's method and the Jeon's method using the mandibular first molar on orthopantomographs (OPGs) in Korean adults. A total of 232 OPGs (91 females and 141 males) of Korean individuals with ages ranging from 20 to 69 years were analyzed using Drusini's method and Jeon's method. Our results revealed that the correlation of the two methods with age was statistically significant (r=0.501). Both Drusini's method and Jeon's method showed significant correlation with chronological age, and Jeon's method showed a greater correlation with chronological age (r=0.738) than Drusini's method (r=0.586). The mean absolute error was 7.99 years for Jeon's method and 9.79 years for Drusini's method. Our results demonstrate that Jeon's method using the mandibular first molar on OPGs is a practical and suitable method for age estimation in Korean adults.
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Fig. 1.
Measurements performed on radiograph of a mandibular first molar by using Adobe Photoshop CS5 program. (A) Tooth measurements according to Drusini et al. [4]. CH, coronal height; CPCH, coronal pulp cavity height. (B) Tooth measurements according to Jeon et al. [5]. L, distance from the start point of lingual groove to the highest point on the root furcation; D, depth of the pulp chamber; F, distance between the floor of the pulp chamber and the highest point on the root furcation; R, distance between the roof of the pulp chamber and the highest point on the root furcation.
Table 1.
Distribution of subjects in study according to age and gender
| Age group (yr) | Male | Female | Total |
|---|---|---|---|
| 20-29 | 26 | 21 | 47 |
| 30-39 | 29 | 17 | 46 |
| 40-49 | 25 | 17 | 42 |
| 50-59 | 31 | 19 | 50 |
| 60-69 | 30 | 17 | 47 |
| Total | 141 | 91 | 232 |
Table 2.
Pearson's correlation coefficients (r) between Drusini's and Jeon's method for the pooled sample, and each sex
| Sex | Correlation coefficients (r) |
|---|---|
| Male (n=141) | 0.481∗ |
| Female (n=91) | 0.528∗ |
| Pooled sample (n=232) | 0.501∗ |
Table 3.
Pearson's correlation coefficients (r) between Drusini's method, Jeon's method and chronological age for age group
| Method | Correlation coefficients (r) |
|---|---|
| Drusini's method | 0.586∗ |
| Jeon's method | 0.738∗ |
Table 4.
MAE and percentage of estimated ages <±MAE years and <±10 years for age group
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