Abstract

Introduction: Teeth are used as a valuable factor in the estimation of age since external factors have a lower impact on mineralization of the tooth compared to bone. The most commonly-used method in this regard is the Demirjian method, which is based on the process of calcification of teeth. The objective of this study was to assess the accuracy of mandibular second molar development in estimating chronological age.

Materials and Methods: This study is a cross-sectional and diagnosis test study. A total of 240 panoramic radiographs were obtained from 6 - 25 years old men and women. The chronological age of the subjects was recorded by their birth date and analyzed using SPSS version 20 software.

Results: Independent t-test showed that there was no significant difference between mean ages in right and left in each of the calcification stages (P ˃ 0.05). Also, the test indicated that there was only a significant difference between the mean ages of groups C and H in boys and girls (P < 0.05). In other age groups, there was no significant difference between the mean ages of boys and girls (P ˃ 0.05). Investigating of mean ages in different groups of A-H and calculation of error percentage showed that the highest percentage of error (40%) was in group A and the lowest (-1.23) was in group H.

Conclusion: The most important factor affecting the process of dental calcification is chronological age and gender has little effect on it.

Keywords: Estimation of Legal Age; Panoramic Radiograph; Demirjian Method; Nolla Method

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