Dental age assessment: The applicability of Demirjian method in southwestern of eastern Anatolia region Turkish children

Objectives: Age estimation plays an important role in forensic medicine and orthodontics. Many methods of age estimation have been suggested. Demirjian method is the most frequently used one of these. In the literature, there is a little known about applicability of this method in Turkish children. The aim of the present study was to evaluate the reliability of Demirjian method of dental age estimaiton and for description of mandibular permanent tooth formation in Turkish children from the southwest Eastern Anatolia region. Materials and Methods: A retrospective study was performed on 1015 panoramic radiographs and 5-15 years of age South western of Eastern Anatolia Regionof Turkish children. The stages of dental maturity of the mandibular left seven permanent teeth for each subject using the eight radiographic dental maturity stages demonstrated by Demirjian’s method were evaluated. A pired t-test was used for statistical analysis. Results: The mean difference between the chronological and dental ages ranged 0,28 to 1,10 years in boys and from 0,18 to 0,68 years in girls. South western of Eastern Anatolia Region ofTurkish children were generally delayed in dental maturity compared with children in Demirjian sample. The differences between the chronological and dental ages were statistically significant in 6-6.9, 8-8.9, 9-9.9, 10-10.9, 11-11.9 years in boys and in 8-8.9, 9-9.9,11-11.9 years in girls. Conclusions: Turkish children from the southwest Eastern Anatolia region are significantly more delayed in dental maturity compared to Demirjian’s French-Canadian sample. The applicability of Demirjian data is not suitable for Southwestern of Eastern Anatolia Region of Turkish children.