Researchers examine teeth for better age identification in Africa

Dental Tribune International

Wed. 29 November 2017

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JOHANNESBURG, South Africa: For many populations in rural Africa, data on uncompromised development and growth variation is lacking, and researchers typically compare growth in the population of interest to standards that are formulated for European or US children. However, researchers from the University of the Witwatersrand in Johannesburg believe assessing teeth could be a far more accurate way to determine the age of children in Africa.

Population-based information on human biological growth and development is fundamental for assessing the health status of a community. With this in mind, researchers are investigating dental development as a reliable gauge for assessing the age of children and juveniles in forensic and anthropological contexts. In a recently published review of two dental development assessment methods, the Demirjian and Willems methods, they found the Willems method to provide a more accurate estimation of chronological age. However, it was stated that the ages of children in most populations are still overestimated using the method.

Co-author of the paper Dr Lynne A. Schepartz, an associate professor at and head of the Biological Anthropology Division at the university, said: “It is important to accurately estimate chronological age from a sample of living children in the population of interest, because this information can then be used as a benchmark for evaluating the growth of health-compromised children. Our review illustrates that there is significant population-level variation in the tempo of dental development.”

According to the researchers, the findings have implications for growth assessment in general and the use of global standards that are largely untested in African populations. They stated that the information from dental development may play a major role in determining many clinical decisions, including choices about treatment options and sequence of treatment in the future.

The study, titled “The Demirjian versus the Willems method for dental age estimation in different populations: A meta-analysis of published studies”, was published in PLoS ONE on 8 November.

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