Dental age estimation methods-A review

Age is one of the essential factors in establishing the identity of a person. Chronological age (CA) is an important issue in most societies for school attendance, voting, consent, majority, criminal responsibility, marriage, sports and mandatory retirement. However, there are many instances where CA might not be known due to undocumented or missing birth date. The age estimation methods include a range of Medical, Dental, Physical, and Psycho-social assessments, as well as approaches to assess age that make use of existing local knowledge. One of the most accurate, reliable and fast methods of age determination especially in the growing children, is the dental method of age estimation. This has become an established practice in legal medicine and forensic dentistry. Different methods are used for dental age estimation: Morphological method, Biochemical method and Radiological method. Radiographic assessment of age is a simple, non-invasive and reproducible method. Demirjian, Goldstein and Tanner method (1973) has been used universally with appropriate modifications.