Age Estimation Using Tooth/ Pulp Area Ratio in Permanent Maxillary and Mandibular Canines by Kvaal’s Method on Digital Panoramic Radiograph

Abstract

Background: Age estimation is an important aid for personal identification in both, living and dead. Radiography has a vital role in forensic odontology and is widely used as a non- invasive method for age estimation, which is carried out through tooth developmental stages in children and from secondary dentin deposition in adults. Objectives: To assess the chronological age from the morphological parameters of all the permanent canines using digital panoramic radiographs and to evaluate the applicability of Kvaal’s method in local Gujarati population. Material and method: A cross-sectional study was undertaken on 300 digital panoramic radiographs wherein the images of all the four permanent canines were analyzed by the investigators jointly, using Adobe Acrobat professional 8.0 and Adobe Photoshop 7.0.1 software. The measurements of each canine was estimated by using Kvaal’s method, and were subjected to statistical analysis, using pearson’s correlation and linear regression model. Results and Observations: The age of participants ranged from 18 to 64 years, with mean of 28.54 ± 8.39 years. The difference in morphological variables between males and females was not significant. The Pearson’s correlation coefficient in maxillary canine sshowed that except variable ‘A’, all the other variables had correlation with age. Similarly, in mandibular canines the variables ‘T’, ‘B’ and ‘W-L’ correlated significantly with age. The stepwise linear regression analysis was performed to correlate the variables with chronological age and a linear regression formula was obtained for Maxillary and Mandibular canine. The regression equation with the variable in Maxillary canine explained 3.5% of total variance (R2 = 0.035) with the standard error of estimate of 8.63 years and median of residuals of 2.36 years. The regression equation with the variable in Mandibular canine explained 1.9 % of total variance (R2 = 0.019) with the standard error of estimate of 8.7 years and median of residuals of 1.8 years. The p value <0.05 is for both, constant and W-L, which signifies, significant relationship between the parameter and age. Conclusion: The morphological parameters used in estimating age from Maxillary and Mandibular canines, are not good predictors of age in our study. Thus, Kvaal’s method is not a reliable method for predicting age from permanent canines.