IADR Abstract Archives
validity of Demirgian and Willems methods for dental age estimation of Tunisian children aged 5-15 years
Objectives: The aim of this study was to evaluate the applicability and to compare the accuracy of Demirjian’s four teeth method (M2, M1, PM2, PM1), Willems I, and Willems II methods for age estimation in a sample of Tunisian children.
Methods: The records of 500 Tunisian children aged between 5.0 and 14.9 years who had visited the Department of pediatric dentistry of dental clinic of Monastir and orthodontic department of military hospital of Tunis, Tunisia were reviewed. 500 Panoramic radiographs were examined with Willems I, II and Demirjian’s methods. The accuracy of each method of age estimation was determined by the mean difference between chronological and dental ages (CA-DA). Paired t test was used for this purpose. The correlation between DA and CA was analysed using Spearman’s rank correlation coefficient for each gender and for the total study sample.
Intra- and inter-observer agreement of mineralization stages were determined using Cohen’s Kappa test. Intra- and inter-rater agreement were calculated using intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC).
Results: From both inter and intra-rater values, the agreement of observations was found to be very good according to the kappa and the ICC statistic tests. Except 6 and 14 groupes, demirgian method was the most accurate method . The discrepancy between chronological age and Demirgian estimated age was most frequently observed between -0.36 and 0.84 years for boys and between -0.24 and 0.53 years for girls.Spearman correlation coefficient test revealed a high linear correlations between CA and DA for all three methods, r values ranging from 0.93 to 0.95 and p values < 0.001.
Conclusions: It is highly recommended that the Demirgian four teeth method should be applied when estimating dental age in Tunisian population. Willems II method is a suitable method for age estimation in forensic cases when gender are unidentified.
Methods: The records of 500 Tunisian children aged between 5.0 and 14.9 years who had visited the Department of pediatric dentistry of dental clinic of Monastir and orthodontic department of military hospital of Tunis, Tunisia were reviewed. 500 Panoramic radiographs were examined with Willems I, II and Demirjian’s methods. The accuracy of each method of age estimation was determined by the mean difference between chronological and dental ages (CA-DA). Paired t test was used for this purpose. The correlation between DA and CA was analysed using Spearman’s rank correlation coefficient for each gender and for the total study sample.
Intra- and inter-observer agreement of mineralization stages were determined using Cohen’s Kappa test. Intra- and inter-rater agreement were calculated using intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC).
Results: From both inter and intra-rater values, the agreement of observations was found to be very good according to the kappa and the ICC statistic tests. Except 6 and 14 groupes, demirgian method was the most accurate method . The discrepancy between chronological age and Demirgian estimated age was most frequently observed between -0.36 and 0.84 years for boys and between -0.24 and 0.53 years for girls.Spearman correlation coefficient test revealed a high linear correlations between CA and DA for all three methods, r values ranging from 0.93 to 0.95 and p values < 0.001.
Conclusions: It is highly recommended that the Demirgian four teeth method should be applied when estimating dental age in Tunisian population. Willems II method is a suitable method for age estimation in forensic cases when gender are unidentified.