Akbas Akca Elif, Duman Tepe Rabia, Ozcan Ilknur, Cakir Karabas Hulya
Private Clinic, Sakarya, Turkey.
Faculty of Dentistry, Department of Oral and Maxillofacial Radiology, Istanbul University, Istanbul, Turkey.
Oral Radiol. 2025 Jan 27. doi: 10.1007/s11282-025-00802-9.
This study evaluates the potential of pulp volume/total tooth-volume measurements of canine teeth in relation to chronologic age in patients with cleft lip and palate (CLP). The significance of this study lies in its exploration of the usability of these measurements for age determination in CLP patients, providing a novel perspective to the existing literature.
Cone beam computed tomography images of 33 patients (16 females, 17 males) with unilateral CLP aged 14-45 years and 33 age- and sex-matched healthy individuals (16 females, 17 males) were retrospectively evaluated. Using ITK-SNAP software, pulp and whole tooth volumes of canine teeth on the non-defect side of CLP patients and the corresponding side of healthy individuals were measured. Their relationship with chronologic age was evaluated, and comparisons were made between the CLP and control groups.
No statistically significant difference was observed between the whole tooth volume, pulp volume, and pulp volume/total tooth-volume ratios of the control and CLP groups. A paired t test comparing chronologic age and calculated mean age of both groups found no significant difference.
The results show that the pulp and total tooth-volume ratios of canine teeth in the non-defect areas of individuals with unilateral CLP correlate with chronologic age and can be used reliably for age determination. This indicates that individuals with CLP can be evaluated similarly to healthy individuals, allowing accurate age estimation based on dental measurements.
本研究评估唇腭裂（CLP）患者犬牙髓腔体积与全牙体积测量值与实际年龄的相关性。本研究的意义在于探索这些测量值在CLP患者年龄判定中的可用性，为现有文献提供新的视角。
回顾性评估33例年龄在14 - 45岁的单侧CLP患者（16例女性，17例男性）和33例年龄及性别匹配的健康个体（16例女性，17例男性）的锥束计算机断层扫描图像。使用ITK-SNAP软件测量CLP患者非患侧犬牙的髓腔和全牙体积以及健康个体相应侧的体积。评估它们与实际年龄的关系，并对CLP组和对照组进行比较。
对照组和CLP组的全牙体积、髓腔体积及髓腔体积与全牙体积之比均无统计学显著差异。对两组的实际年龄和计算出的平均年龄进行配对t检验，未发现显著差异。
结果表明，单侧CLP患者非患侧犬牙的髓腔与全牙体积之比与实际年龄相关，可可靠地用于年龄判定。这表明CLP患者可与健康个体一样进行评估，从而基于牙齿测量实现准确的年龄估计。
