Sequeira Catarina-Dourado, Teixeira Alexandra, Caldas Inês-Morais, Afonso Américo, Pérez-Mongiovi Daniel
Faculdade de Medicina Dentária da Universidade do Porto. Porto, Portugal.
Faculdade de Medicina Dentária da Universidade do Porto. Porto, Portugal ; CENCIFOR - Center of Forensic Sciences, Portugal. Associação Centro de Ciências Forenses. Coimbra, Portugal.
J Clin Exp Dent. 2014 Dec 1;6(5):e546-50. doi: 10.4317/jced.51813. eCollection 2014 Dec.
The mineralization of third molars has been used repeatedly as a method of forensic age estimation. However, this procedure is of little use beyond age 18, especially to determinate if an individual is older than 21 years of age; thus, the development of new approaches is essential. The visibility of the periodontal ligament has been suggested for this purpose. The aim of this work was to determine the usefulness of this methodology in a Portuguese population.
Periodontal ligament visibility was assessed in the lower third molars, using a sample of 487 orthopantomograms, 228 of which belonging to females and 259 to males, from a Portuguese population aged 17 to 31 years. A classification of four stages based on the visual phenomenon of disappearance of the periodontal ligament of fully mineralized third molars was used. For each stage, median, variance, minimal and maximal age were assessed.
The relationship between age and stage of periodontal ligament had a statistical significance for both sexes. In this population, stage 3 can be used to state that a male person is over 21 years-old; for females, another marker should be used.
This technique can be useful for determining age over 21, particularly in males. Differences between studies are evident, suggesting that specific population standards should be used when applying this technique. Key words:Forensic sciences, forensic odontology, age estimation, third molar, periodontal ligament.
第三磨牙矿化情况已被反复用作法医年龄估计的一种方法。然而，该方法在18岁以后作用不大，尤其难以确定一个人是否超过21岁；因此，开发新方法至关重要。为此有人提出利用牙周膜的可见性来进行年龄估计。本研究的目的是确定该方法在葡萄牙人群中的实用性。
采用487张全景X线片样本评估下颌第三磨牙的牙周膜可见性，这些样本来自17至31岁的葡萄牙人群，其中228份属于女性，259份属于男性。根据完全矿化第三磨牙牙周膜消失的视觉现象进行了四个阶段的分类。对每个阶段评估中位数、方差、最小和最大年龄。
牙周膜阶段与年龄之间的关系在两性中均具有统计学意义。在该人群中，阶段3可用于判定男性超过21岁；对于女性，则应使用其他指标。
该技术可用于确定21岁以上的年龄，尤其是男性。不同研究之间的差异明显，这表明应用该技术时应使用特定的人群标准。关键词：法医学、法医牙科学、年龄估计、第三磨牙、牙周膜
