Ageing practical

Question 1

Dental age

Answer 1

Correlates more closely with chronological age than any other maturity indicator
Dental age estimation is of value in dental diagnosis and treatment planning, forensic odontology, physical anthropology, legal practice

Question 2

Dental age influenced by

Answer 2

Less sensitive to genetic and environmental factors than other physiological systems

• gender
• ethnic origin
• endocrine abnormalities
• dental anomalies
• low birth weight

Question 3

Dental ageing methods

Answer 3

Histological analysis
Dental emergence/ eruption patterns
Dental developmental stages

Question 4

Demirjian method of dental ageing

Answer 4

Uses radiographic stages of dental development (OPT)
Employs left mandibular permanent teeth
Derives a maturity score for teeth which is then converted to an actual age using data obtained from study of French-Canadian children in 1970s

Question 5

Advantages of Demirjian’s method of dental ageing

Answer 5

Very accurate
Simple and quick
Good inter/intra-individual repeatability
Non-invasive

Question 6

Disadvantages of Demirjian’s method of dental ageing

Answer 6

Doesn’t include 8 so can only age up to about 15 years
Centiles based on Caucasian population
Open to error if care not taken

Question 7

Dermirjian’s method steps

Answer 7

Start with lower left central permanent incisor - decide what stage of dental development it is using pictorial and written descriptions - ascribe stage A-H
Ascribe developmental stage for all other lower left permanent teeth (to 7s)
Convert all letters to numerical using separate chart for boys or girls
Add 7 numbers together to obtain maturity score (ms)
Use gender-specific centile chart to convert ms into chronological age - using 50th centile

Question 8

Demirjian - if any tooth is unclear on the radiograph

Answer 8

Refer to contra-lateral tooth

Question 9

Demirjian - if developmental stage is exactly between two stages

Answer 9

Select the earlier stage