Journal of Oral Medicine and Pain

Korean Academy of Orofacial Pain and Oral Medicine (대한안면통증구강내과학회)
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Dental Age Estimation in Adults: A Review of the Commonly Used Radiological Methods

  • Jeon, Hye-Mi (Department of Oral Medicine, School of Dentistry, Pusan National University) ;
  • Jang, Seok-Min (Department of Oral Medicine, School of Dentistry, Pusan National University) ;
  • Kim, Kyung-Hee (Department of Oral Medicine, Busan Paik Hospital, Inje University College of Medicine) ;
  • Heo, Jun-Young (Department of Oral Medicine, School of Dentistry, Pusan National University) ;
  • Ok, Soo-Min (Department of Oral Medicine, School of Dentistry, Pusan National University) ;
  • Jeong, Sung-Hee (Department of Oral Medicine, School of Dentistry, Pusan National University) ;
  • Ahn, Yong-Woo (Department of Oral Medicine, School of Dentistry, Pusan National University)
  • Received : 2014.09.24
  • Accepted : 2014.10.20
  • Published : 2014.12.30
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Abstract

This review provides an overview of the most commonly used dental age estimation techniques which focus on radiological methods in Korean adults. The literature from 1995 through July 31, 2014, was searched, using PubMed, for publications in English language. In PubMed, the keywords 'tooth' OR 'dental' AND 'pulp' AND 'age estimation' were searched. Inclusion criteria was comprised of the following: the subjects were living adults and dental radiography (excluded computed tomography [CT] and cone-beam CT) was used to measure the pulpal size. Twenty articles that met the criteria were selected. The method of age estimation using dental radiographs for measuring pulp and tooth size was represented in all studies. The methods were assorted into three categories generally; Kvaal's, Ikeda's and Cameriere's methods. Those methods had certain limitations such as large error range and low correlation coefficient depending on populations, type of employed teeth and particular method. Various techniques and many studies have been published for age estimation from human teeth using dental radiographs, but those techniques showed various predictability and reliability. Therefore, future studies on larger samples with well-distributed age group using not only existing techniques but new techniques are necessary for deriving convincing results.

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References

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