Olze stages of radiographic visibility of root pulp and cameriere's third molar maturity index to estimate legal adult age in Hyderabad population.

CONTEXT

Predicting one's attainment of age of majority is a controversial issue and considered as important aspect in medicolegal cases. In India, individuals older than 18 years of age have full capacity regarding civil conduct and are tried as adults for criminal charges.

AIMS AND OBJECTIVE

To compare the accuracy of Olze , stages of radiographic visibility of root pulp, and Cameriere's third molar maturity index ( < 0.08) to estimate the age of majority.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

A total of 615 digital orthopantomographs of children aged between 15 and 22 years. The lower left third molars were evaluated using ImageJ computer software. The effectiveness of both methods was evaluated using sensitivity, specificity, positive likelihood ratios (LR+), and LR negative (LR-).

RESULTS

For < 0.08, the sensitivity, specificity, LR+, LR- were 0.76, 0.72, 2.79, 0.32 and 0.67, 0.76, 2.83, 0.43 in males and females respectively. For Stage 0, the sensitivity, specificity, LR+, LR- were 0.68, 0.86, 5.18, 0.36 and 0.72, 0.91, 8.63, 0.31, respectively.

CONCLUSION

Stage 0 of Olze's radiographic root pulp visibility showed to be more accurate than cutoff value of < 0.08 in discriminating adults and minors of Hyderabad sample when a test of high sensitivity and specificity is required.