Odontological Age Estimation of Living Persons with Special Reference to Young Asylum Seekers: the Norwegian Approach

Dob žive osobe definirana je vremenom proteklim od dana rođenja, no ona može biti upitna zbog nekoliko razloga. U Norveškoj to se događa s djecom koja se posvajaju iz inozemstva te s izbjeglicama bez identifikacijskih dokumenata. Osobno je pravo svakoga čovjeka u suvremenom društvu da zna datum svojega rođenja. Azilanti mlađi od 18 godina imaju pravo da ih se smatra djecom ili maloljetnicima, te njima nije tako lako uskratiti pristup ili odbiti azil, pa se tako povećava vjerojatnost da će dobiti prebivalište. Zato se često mladi azilanti predstavljaju mlađima nego što jesu. Posljednjih godina u Norvešku je stiglo nekoliko mladih azilanata koji su tvrdili da su mlađi od 18 godina, ali nisu imali dokumente kojima bi to potvrdili. U godini 2002. oko 900 navodnih maloljetnika stiglo je u Norvešku, a Državna uprava za imigraciju (UDI) htjela je provjeriti njihovu dob biološkim markerima, kako je to ranije učinjeno u Danskoj, Švedskoj i Njemačkoj. Na temelju kontakta sa Stomatološkim fakultetom Sveučilišta u Oslu počeo se provoditi projekt procjene dobi na temelju zuba. Istodobno su napravljene rendgenske snimke šake i zgloba, a procjenu dobi obavila je jedna sveučilišna bolnica u Oslu. Obje institucije dale su UDI-u neovisne izvještaje. Svrha ovoga rada jest, na temelju nekih primjera, opisati tehniku koja se koristi na Stomatološkom fakultetu u Oslu.The age of a living person which is defined as the time elapsed since the date of birth may sometimes be queried for various reasons. In Norway, this may happen with children adopted from abroad and refugees who arrived without identification papers. It is the civil rights of a person in a modern society to have a correct date of birth. Unaccompanied asylum seekers under the age of 18 years have the right to be treated as children or minors. He cannot so easily be denied access nor returned and the likelihood of a permanent permission to stay increases. It is therefore tempting for young asylum seekers to pretend to be younger than they really are. In the latter years several young asylum seekers have arrived in Norway claiming to be younger than 18 years of age, but cannot produce official papers to verify this. In the year 2002 approximately 900 people claiming to be minors arrived in Norway and the Norwegian Directorate of Immigration (UDI) wanted to have the age verified from biological markers as were already done in Denmark, Sweden and Germany. Contact was established with the Faculty of Dentistry at the University of Oslo and a project for estimation the age based on teeth started. At the same time initiation was made to take radiographs of the hand and wrist bones and have age assessments from these performed at one of the university hospitals in Oslo. Independent reports were submitted to UDI from both institutions. The aim of this paper is to show the technique we use at the Faculty of Dentistry in Oslo including some examples