Radio-morphologic assessment of dental formation leading to permanent teeth and third molar age estimation models

Abstract

Understanding dental development within populations is essential for clinical and forensic applications, particularly for age estimation in children and adolescents. This study aimed: I) to evaluate the chronology of dental development, eruption, and exfoliation by means of radiographic analysis and II) to propose dental age estimation models based on the development of permanent teeth and third molars. The sample consisted of panoramic radiographs of individuals between 6 and 22.9 years. Radiographs were analyzed for deciduous and permanent teeth, including third molars, using established staging systems for development, eruption, and exfoliation. Dental age estimation models were developed for permanent teeth and third molars, separately, using staging techniques. The models demonstrated high accuracy, with coefficients of determination (r²) of 0.94 for maxillary teeth, 0.95 for mandibular teeth, and 0.93 for third molars. The mean absolute errors (MAE) were approximately 0.6 years for permanent teeth and 0.93 years for third molars. This study contributes to the field of dental age estimation providing frameworks for evaluating subadults in contexts requiring legal or anthropological assessments. Future research should aim to test and validate these models in independent populations.