Study of Chilean Children's Dental Maturation

• Published in: Journal of forensic sciences Vol. 55; no. 3; pp. 735 - 737
• Main Authors: Flores, Antonieta Pérez, Sanhueza, Mario Aguirre, Barboza, Patricio, Monti, Claudia Fierro
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Oxford, UK Blackwell Publishing Ltd 01-05-2010; Wiley Subscription Services, Inc
• Subjects: Adolescent; Age Determination by Teeth - methods; Child; Child, Preschool; Children & youth; Chile; dental age; dental maturation; dental mineralization; Female; Forensic Dentistry; Forensic odontology; forensic science; Hispanic people; Humans; Male; physiological age; Radiography, Panoramic; Teeth; Tooth - anatomy & histology; Chile
• ISSN: 0022-1198; 1556-4029
• DOI: 10.1111/j.1556-4029.2009.01274.x

:  In forensic science, determining a person’s chronological age has become a challenge for researchers. Determining age using dental calcification is becoming increasingly important. The objective of this study is to estimate the dental age of the children’s population in Region VIII, Chile. The sample was randomly taken from children under the care of the Faculty of Dentistry at the Universidad de Concepción in Chile. The study encompasses 159 children between 3 and 14 years of age. The dental age was determined following the Demirjian method. The Bland–Altman method was applied to establish the correlation. It was determined that the range between chronological and dental age is similar, and the degree of correlation between both ages is nearly perfect. In conclusion, the degree of correlation between the chronological and dental ages for each gender is also very good although it is slightly higher for females.