Applicability of Demirjian's four methods and Willems method for age estimation in a sample of Turkish children

The aim of this study was to evaluate applicability of five dental methods including Demirjian's original, revised, four teeth, and alternate four teeth methods and Willems method for age estimation in a sample of Turkish children. Panoramic radiographs of 799 children (412 females, 387 males) aged between 2.20 and 15.99 years were examined by two observers. A repeated measures ANOVA was performed to compare dental methods among gender and age groups. All of the five methods overestimated the chronological age on the average. Among these, Willems method was found to be the most accurate method, which showed 0.07 and 0.15 years overestimation for males and females, respectively. It was followed by Demirjian's four teeth methods, revised and original methods. According to the results, Willems method can be recommended for dental age estimation of Turkish children in forensic applications. (C) 2015 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved