Santoro Valeria, Lozito Piercarlo, Mastrorocco Nunzio, Introna Francesco
Section of Legal Medicine, University of Bari, P.zza Giulio Cesare n.11, 70124 Bari, Italy.
J Forensic Sci. 2008 Jul;53(4):904-9. doi: 10.1111/j.1556-4029.2008.00767.x.
The aim of the study was to conduct a morphometric analysis of the root development of the third molar, with the purpose of overcoming the limits of an exclusively morphological analysis. The study was divided in two phases. The first one was the verification of the existence of a constant crown-root (C/R) ratio on a sample of 100 third molars, characterized by a complete root development. The value obtained was used in the second phase to predict the final root's length, knowing the crown height. So we have calculated, on a sample of 322 third molars with developing roots, the final ratios between incomplete roots and complete roots. Statistical analysis was then made with 90%, 95%, and 99% confidence intervals. The results showed a significant difference according to the age of the subject and the limit values, lower and upper, for subjects aged 16 and 17 years versus those aged 18 and 19. For each analysis, the width of the class of tolerance and other statistical indicators were calculated. The results we obtained support the advantage of a morphometric study as opposed to an exclusively morphological study, but all the techniques used to determine the age of a living subject can provide only indications of the biological age, but no certainties as regards chronological age.
本研究的目的是对第三磨牙的牙根发育进行形态测量分析，以克服单纯形态学分析的局限性。该研究分为两个阶段。第一阶段是对100颗牙根发育完全的第三磨牙样本进行冠根比（C/R）恒定值的验证。所得值在第二阶段用于在已知冠高的情况下预测牙根的最终长度。因此，我们在322颗牙根正在发育的第三磨牙样本上计算了未完全发育牙根与完全发育牙根之间的最终比例。然后采用90%、95%和99%的置信区间进行统计分析。结果显示，根据受试者年龄以及16和17岁受试者与18和19岁受试者的上下限值存在显著差异。对于每次分析，都计算了公差等级宽度和其他统计指标。我们获得的结果支持形态测量研究相对于单纯形态学研究的优势，但用于确定活体受试者年龄的所有技术都只能提供生物年龄的指示，而无法确定其实际年龄。
