Jain Supreet, Nagi Ravleen, Daga Minal, Shandilya Ashutosh, Shukla Aastha, Parakh Abhinav, Laheji Afshan, Singh Rahul
Department of Oral Medicine and Radiology, New Horizon Dental College and Research Institute, Bilaspur, Chhattisgarh, India.
Department of Conservative Dentistry and Endodontics, New Horizon Dental College and Research Institute, Bilaspur, Chhattisgarh, India.
Forensic Sci Int. 2017 Aug;277:115-121. doi: 10.1016/j.forsciint.2017.05.006. Epub 2017 May 12.
Assessment of an age of an individual whether living or dead through teeth is one of the most reliable and simple method to calculate age than skeletal remains especially when they are in poor conditions.
The study was carried out with aim of (i) to evaluate reliability of dental age assessment through two different methods for adults i.e. tooth coronal index and pulp/tooth ratio using digital panoramic radiographs and (ii) to compare these methods for their accuracy in age determination.
The digital panoramic radiographs of 180 subjects of Chhattisgarh aged 15-70 years were selected for the study. The measurements were performed on the JPEG images of selected panoramic radiographs by using Adobe Acrobat 7.0 professional software. For tooth coronal index (TCI), height of the crown i.e. coronal height (CH) and the height of the coronal pulp cavity i.e. coronal pulp cavity height (CPCH) of mandibular second premolars and first molars was measured in millimeter (mm) and then TCI was calculated for each tooth and calculated age was compared with chronological age. For pulp/tooth ratio, the measurements of pulp chamber height (PCH) and crown root trunk height (CRTH) were performed on the mandibular first and second molar teeth, the pulp chamber crown root trunk height ratios (PCTHR) of selected tooth were calculated. The acquired data were subjected to Pearson correlation test, unpaired t test and Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) analysis.
Results suggested that TCI (mandibular first molar r=-0.178), second premolar (r=-0.187) and PCTHR(mandibular first molar r=-0.921, second molar r=-0.901) correlated negatively with chronological age suggesting decrease in size of pulp cavity. Mandibular first molar was found to be most reliable tooth to estimate dental age.
The study showed that both PCTHR and TCI have negative association with chronological age. PCTHR showed slightly higher negative correlation and proved as a better tool for age estimation than TCI. Statistically significant differences were observed between chronological and calculated age by both methods thus emphasizing the need for future clinical trials.
通过牙齿评估一个人（无论生死）的年龄是计算年龄最可靠且简单的方法之一，相较于骨骼遗骸，尤其是当骨骼遗骸状况不佳时。
本研究旨在（i）通过两种不同方法（即使用数字化全景X线片的牙冠指数和牙髓/牙齿比率）评估成人牙齿年龄评估的可靠性，以及（ii）比较这些方法在年龄确定方面的准确性。
选取180名年龄在15 - 70岁的恰蒂斯加尔邦受试者的数字化全景X线片用于研究。使用Adobe Acrobat 7.0专业软件在所选全景X线片的JPEG图像上进行测量。对于牙冠指数（TCI），测量下颌第二前磨牙和第一磨牙的牙冠高度即冠高（CH）以及牙冠牙髓腔高度即冠部牙髓腔高度（CPCH），单位为毫米（mm），然后计算每颗牙齿的TCI，并将计算出的年龄与实际年龄进行比较。对于牙髓/牙齿比率，测量下颌第一和第二磨牙的牙髓腔高度（PCH）和冠根干高度（CRTH），计算所选牙齿的牙髓腔冠根干高度比率（PCTHR）。对获取的数据进行Pearson相关性检验、非配对t检验和方差分析（ANOVA）。
结果表明，TCI（下颌第一磨牙r = -0.178）、第二前磨牙（r = -0.187）和PCTHR（下颌第一磨牙r = -0.921，第二磨牙r = -0.901）与实际年龄呈负相关，表明牙髓腔大小减小。发现下颌第一磨牙是估计牙齿年龄最可靠的牙齿。
该研究表明PCTHR和TCI均与实际年龄呈负相关。PCTHR显示出略高的负相关性，并且被证明是比TCI更好的年龄估计工具。两种方法计算出的年龄与实际年龄之间均观察到统计学上的显著差异，因此强调了未来进行临床试验的必要性。
