Dental age assessment methods in adult dentitions

Određivanje dobi predstavlja jedan od glavnih izazova forenzične znanosti. Koristi se za identifikaciju nepoznatih tijela u forenzici i arheologiji, kao i za procjenu dobi u pravnim, legalnim i kriminalističkim slučajevima. Za procjenu se mogu koristiti zubna tkiva zbog izrazite rezistencije svoje anorganske strukture. Kod odraslih je procjena puno zahtjevnija jer se bazira na analizi degenerativnih promjena koje nastaju starenjem i mogu biti vrlo individualne. Postojeće metode procjene dentalne dobi u odraslih osoba dijele se na morfološke, radiološke, biokemijske i molekularne. Učinkovitost metoda pokazala se različitom u različitim etničkim i dobnim skupinama te nije svaka primjenjiva na svakoj skupini zuba. Glavni nedostatak mnogih metoda jesu zahtjevni laboratorijski postupci i dug vremenski period potreban da se metoda izvrši. Pronalaženje univerzalne, jedinstvene metode procjene dobi u odraslih jedan je od glavnih ciljeva forenzičnih stomatologa danas.Age estimation presents one of the main challenges in forensic science. It is used in identification of unknown bodies in forensics and archeology, as well as estimating the age in legal and criminal cases. Dental tissues are used in the estimation because of their resistant inorganic structure. Age estimation is much more challenging in adults because it is based on analysing the degenerative changes that occur as a part of the ageing process and that can be very individual. Methods include: morphological, radiological, biochemical and molecular methods. The efficacy of methods was shown to be variable for various ethnic and age groups, and not every method is applicable for every type of tooth. One of the main faults of many methods is the requirement of sophisticated laboratory equipment and knowledge as well as the time consuming procedures needed to accomplish the method. Finding a universal and standardised method for age estimation in adults is one of the main goals of forensic dentistry today