Dental Age Estimation of Growing Children: Comparison Among Various European Countries

Procjena dobi djece temeljno je pitanje u sudskoj medicini, pedijatrijskoj endokrinologiji i ortodontskom liječenju. Za to se koristi nekoliko metoda, uključujući i onu na osnovi razvoja kostiju i zuba. Budući da je nekoliko autora ustanovilo da se dentalne metode mogu razlikovati prema točnosti procjene, ovaj se rad temelji na poboljšanjima metode koju su razvili Cameriere i suradnici te ih proširuje na veći uzorak djece iz nekoliko europskih regija - 505 iz Italije, 304 s Kosova i 291 iz Slovenije. Također se ispitala učinkovitost metode u situacijama kada se različite populacije analiziraju zajedno. Koeficijenti korelacije procjenjivali su se između dobi i predvidivih varijabli. Statistička analiza obavljena je u statističkom programu S-PLUS 6 (SPLUS 6.1 za Windowsov operativni sustav - Professional Edition, Release 1). Razina znatnosti postavljena je na 5%. Statistička analiza pokazala je da spol, zbroj normalno otvorenih apeksa i broj zuba s potpuno razvijenim korjenovima znatno utječu na procjenu starosti. Pripadnost različitim europskim regijama nije utjecala na parametre modela.Age estimation in children is a fundamental question in forensic medicine, paediatric endocrinology and orthodontic treatment. Several methods deal with their age estimation, including methods based on bone and on tooth development. Since several authors have shown that odontological methods can differ in accuracy when different populations are considered, this paper focuses on improvement of the method developed by Cameriere et al., extending it to a larger sample of children belonging to several European regions - 505 Italian, 304 Kossovan and 291 Slovenian children, and investigates the efficiency of the method when various populations are pooled together. Correlation coefficients were evaluated between age and predictive variables. Statistical analysis was performed with the S-PLUS 6 statistical program (S-PLUS 6.1 for Windows, Professional Edition, Release 1). The significance threshold was set at 5%. Statistical analysis indicated that gender, sum of normalized open apices and number of teeth with complete root development have a significant influence on age estimation. Belonging to various European regions did not have a significant influence on model parameters