Age estimation by dental developmental stages in the Icelandic population

Objectives: All teeth share morphologically distinct stages of mineralization which can be identified radiographically. The diversity is such that it is helpful to create a database of dental maturity and ethnicity for every distinct population. The present investigation is the first performed on the Icelandic population. It should create important information for forensic purposes in age estimation and should help with developmental age assessment in children and adolescents. Methods: Dental developmental stages of 1200 Icelandic children and young adolescents were established from panoramic radiographs. The first 200 were used for a pilot study. The remaining 1000 were used for the main study, 508 girls and 469 boys aged 4-25 years. 23 radiographs were eliminated. Haavikkosxs eleven dental maturity scores were used. 201 radiographs were studied both on the left and right side and the rest unilaterally. Results: Males and females differed in the age at which their permanent teeth attained various stages of mineralization. Girls reached most dental stages earlier than boys. Root apex closure started in girls in lower central incisors at the average age 8.03 (sd. 1.07) years and in lower third molars at 19.44 (sd. 1.76) years and for boys at 8.28 (sd. 0.72) and 18.53 (sd. 1.48) years respectively. The difference between genders was not significant except in a few stages in some teeth and particularly for the mandibular canines (p<0.01). There was no significant difference between bilaterally symmetrical teeth. The correlation between maturity scores on both sides was very high (r = 0.98-1.00, p<0.005). Conclusion: A reliable database has been established for age estimation for the Icelandic population. Estimating the age from dental panoramic radiographs showed high accuracy and the results are comparable with other Western European studies. This will help to establish, with accuracy, age and maturity- estimation in Icelandic children and adolescents.