Dental age estimation. An alternative technique for tooth sectioning.

An alternative technique for sectioning teeth for age estimation, the half tooth technique, is presented. In a sample of 10 pairs of contralateral teeth, the measurements and calculated age obtained with this technique were compared with those obtained by the conventional thin section technique. Age calculations were performed according to the methods of Bang and Ramm , Dalitz , Johanson, and Miles. The half tooth technique was easy to perform and the cut surface produced was found to be suitable for measurements of the factors used in age calculations. Although a tendency for higher measurements was found using the half tooth technique, the difference was not significant for any type of measurement (P greater than 0.05). A significantly higher age from the half teeth was found when calculated by the method of Bang and Ramm , but this seems to be based on an inaccuracy in their method. Therefore, the methods used for calculating the age based on thin sections can be applied successfully to the half tooth technique.