Al Qattan Fatemah, Alzoubi Emad Eddin, Lucas Victoria, Roberts Graham, McDonald Fraser, Camilleri Simon
Department of Child Dental Health and Orthodontics, Faculty of Dental Surgery, University of Malta, Msida, Malta.
Faculty of Dentistry, Oral & Craniofacial Sciences, King's College London, London, UK.
Int J Legal Med. 2020 Jan;134(1):363-368. doi: 10.1007/s00414-019-02155-5. Epub 2019 Sep 7.
The determination of age of majority (the 18-year-old threshold) using the popular Demirjian tooth staging method is unreliable, so other maturity markers are required. This study examines whether the Root Pulp Visibility (RPV) of the mandibular third molar is a useful indicator of age.
One thousand six dental panoramic radiographs (DPTs) were examined and the left mandibular third molar assessed according to the RPV stages using the method of Olze et al. (Int J Legal Med 124:183-186, 2010) as modified by Lucas et al. (Forensic Sci Int 270:98-102, 2017). Six hundred sixty-two DPTs, 288 males and 374 females, satisfied the inclusion criteria.
Individuals who had reached stages RPV-A and RPV-B were represented in a wide range of ages spanning the 18-year-old threshold. Individuals who had reached stages RPV-C and RPV-D were all above the 18-year-old threshold. It was not possible to analyse a large number of DPTs for various reasons.
Individuals whose mandibular third molar exhibited stages RPV-C and RPV-D may be deemed to have reached the age of majority. These results are consistent with other published studies. Variation in the rate of development of the third molar limits the applicability of this method.
RPV staging is an accurate method of determining the 18-year-old threshold. Substitute methods are required in a large number of cases.
使用广为人知的德米尔坚牙齿分期法来确定法定成年年龄（18岁界限）并不可靠，因此需要其他成熟度指标。本研究探讨下颌第三磨牙的牙髓可见度（RPV）是否为一个有用的年龄指标。
检查了1600张牙科全景X线片（DPT），并根据Olze等人（《国际法律医学杂志》124:183 - 186，2010年）的方法并经Lucas等人（《法医学国际》270:98 - 102，2017年）修改后的RPV分期来评估左下颌第三磨牙。662张DPT，288名男性和374名女性，符合纳入标准。
达到RPV - A期和RPV - B期的个体年龄范围广泛，跨越18岁界限。达到RPV - C期和RPV - D期的个体均超过18岁界限。由于各种原因，无法分析大量的DPT。
下颌第三磨牙表现为RPV - C期和RPV - D期的个体可能被视为已达到法定成年年龄。这些结果与其他已发表的研究一致。第三磨牙发育速度的差异限制了该方法的适用性。
RPV分期是确定18岁界限的一种准确方法。在大量案例中需要替代方法。
