Accuracy of Dental and Chronological Age Estimation in A Sample Turkish Caucasion Children:Comparison of Demirjian’s and Willems Methods

Abstract

Objective: The purpose of this study is to apply Demirjian’s and Willems’ methodologies and to define whether there are any discrepancies in predicting dental age versus chronological age in a sample Turkish Caucasian children. Methods: A total of 150 Turkish Caucasian children with known chronological age and gender were chosen. The chronological age was determined by subtracting the date of birth from the date of the radiograph, and it was expressed as a number with two decimal places. Each age group was determined to have a minimum sample size of 12 and a maximum sample size of 27. All panoramic radiographs were scored according to the criteria of Demirjian’s and Willems methodologies with Onyx Ceph 3.1.54 software. Results: The dental ages of the cases ranged from 4.82 to 15.66 years calculated by the Demirjian’s method, with an average of 9.47±2.27 years, while the Willems method of the cases ranged from 4.13 to 14.34 years calculated by the Demirjian’s method, with an average of 8.87±2.24 years. According to Demirjian’s method, in the developmental evaluation of dental age, 45.3% of boys were found to have a statistically higher chronological age than girls (p.05). Conclusion: The Willems method was shown to be more accurate in determining dental age in Turkish children. Further studies on large population groups and diverse ethnicities are required to increase the reliability and repeatability of the results.