Zur Altersdiagnostik lebender Personen: der Einfluss des sozioökonomischen Status auf die Skelett- und Zahnentwicklung in einer deutschen Studienkohorte

Insights into dental age estimation: introducing multiple regression data from a Black South African population on modified gustafson's criteria

Dental Age Estimation (DAE) is an effective instrument of the rule of law for verifying dubious age claims in living individuals. Once tooth development is complete, only degenerative dental characteristics can be used for this purpose. The influence of ethnicity on these degenerative dental characteristics has not been clarified.Degenerative changes were examined using modified Gustafson's criteria including secondary dentin formation, cementum apposition, periodontal recession and attrition using the Olze et al. (2012) staging scales. Orthopantomograms of 1882 black South Africans, consisting of 934 females and 948 males, from 12.00 to 40.96 years of chronological age were utilized. Two independent examiners performed the evaluations, with one of the two evaluating all radiographs twice.The relationship between individual characteristics and chronological age was analyzed using multiple regression analysis with chronological age as the dependent variable. The resulting R2 values ranged from 0.22 to 0.35, and the standard error of estimate were between 6.6 and 7.3 years. The correlation with age was consistently lower for females compared to males. The characteristic of cementum apposition emerged as critical in this population, due to a particularly low correlation with age and observer agreements partly in the "slight" range. The formula's values for the correlation with age were in general below the literature values for other populations. Overall, the limited precision of the age estimation by the formulae presented, especially for females, must be emphasized. The question of whether ethnicity per se exerts an influence on the characteristics in question, or whether the different socio-economic status, which encompasses factors such as nutrition and healthcare, is the determining factor, needs to be assessed in future studies.

Magnetic resonance imaging of the knee for chronological age estimation-a systematic review

INTRODUCTION

Radiographs of the hand and teeth are frequently used for medical age assessment, as skeletal and dental maturation correlates with chronological age. These methods have been criticized for their lack of precision, and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) of the knee has been proposed as a more accurate method. The aim of this systematic review is to explore the scientific and statistical evidence for medical age estimation based on skeletal maturation as assessed by MRI of the knee.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

A systematic review was conducted that included studies published before April 2021 on living individuals between 8 and 30 years old, with presumptively healthy knees for whom the ossification stages had been evaluated using MRI. The correlation between "mature knee" and chronological age and the risk of misclassifying a child as an adult and vice versa was calculated.

RESULTS

We found a considerable heterogeneity in the published studies -in terms of study population, MRI protocols, and grading systems used. There is a wide variation in the correlation between maturation stage and chronological age.

CONCLUSION

Data from published literature is deemed too heterogenous to support the use of MRI of the knee for chronological age determination. Further, it is not possible to assess the sensitivity, specificity, negative predictive value, or positive predictive value for the ability of MRI to determine whether a person is over or under 18 years old.

KEY POINTS

• There is an insufficient scientific basis for the use of magnetic resonance imaging of the knee in age determination by skeleton. • It is not possible to assess the predictive value of MRI of the knee to determine whether a person is over or under 18 years of age.

Preliminary study on genetic factors related to Demirjian's tooth age estimation method based on genome-wide association analysis

The age determination of individuals, especially minors, is critical in forensic research. In forensic practice, dental age estimation is one of the most commonly used methods for determining age as teeth are easy to preserve and relatively resistant to environmental factors. Tooth development is affected and regulated by genetic factors; however, these are not incorporated into current commonly used tooth age inference methods, leading to unreliable results. Here, we established a Demirjian and a Cameriere tooth age estimation-based methods suitable for use in children in southern China. By using the difference between the inferred age and the actual age (MD) as the phenotype, we identified 65 and 49 SNPs related to tooth age estimation from 743,722 loci among 171 children in southern China through a genome-wide association analysis (p<0.0001). We also conducted a genome-wide association study on dental development stage (DD) using the Demirjian tooth age estimation method and screened two sets of SNP sites (52 and 26) based on whether age difference was considered. The gene function enrichment analysis of these SNPs found that they were related to bone development and mineralization. Although SNP sites screened based on MD seem to improve the accuracy of tooth age estimation, there is little correlation between these SNPs and an individual's Demirjian morphological stage. In conclusion, we found that individual genotypes can affect tooth age estimation, and based on different phenotypic analysis models, we have identified some novel SNP sites related to tooth age inference and Demirjian's tooth development stage. These studies provide a reference for subsequent phenotypic selection based on tooth age inference analysis, and the results could possibly be used in the future to make forensic age estimation more accurate.

Age-dependent decrease in dental pulp cavity volume as a feature for age assessment: a comparative in vitro study using 9.4-T UTE-MRI and CBCT 3D imaging

Evaluation of secondary dentin formation is generally suitable for age assessment. We investigated the potential of modern magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) technology to visualize the dental pulp in direct comparison with cone beam computed tomography (CBCT). To this end, we examined 32 extracted human teeth (teeth 11–48 [FDI]) using 9.4-T ultrashort echo time (UTE)-MRI and CBCT (methods). 3D reconstruction was performed via both manual and semi-automatic segmentation (settings) for both methods in two runs by one examiner. Nine teeth were also examined by a second examiner. We evaluated the agreement between examiners, scan methods, and settings. CBCT was able to determine the pulp volume for all teeth. This was not possible for two teeth on MRI due to MRI artifacts. The mean pulp volume estimated by CBCT was consistently higher (~ 43%) with greater variability. With lower variability in its measurements, evaluation of pulp volume using the MRI method exhibited greater sensitivity to differences between settings (p = 0.016) and between examiners (p = 0.009). The interactions of single-rooted teeth and multi-rooted teeth and method or setting were not found to be significant. For examiner agreement, the mean pulp volumes were similar with overlapping measurements (ICC > 0.995). Suitable for use in age assessment is 9.4-T UTE-MRI with good reliability and lower variation than CBCT. For MRI, manual segmentation is necessary due to a more detailed representation of the interior of the pulp cavity. Since determination of pulp volume is expected to be systematically larger using CBCT, method-specific reference values are indispensable for practical age assessment procedures. The results should be verified under in vivo conditions in the future.