Ocena wieku zębowego na zdjęciach ortopantomograficznych
Accurate age estimation using dental records is essential and useful in diverse fields, including forensic medicine, orthodontics, orthopedics, pediatric dentistry, anthropological studies, and pediatric endocrinology. Tooth formation is extensively utilized in predicting age and assessing maturity. The concept of dental age gained significance after chronological age proved to be a poor indicator of skeletal maturity since it is characterized by significant individual variability (1). Dental age assessment is crucial in helping orthodontists and pediatric dentists to time, plan and select the ideal orthodontic appliance. Dental age assessment allows for the start of treatment during the puberty growth spurt – the optimal growth stage – which helps to schedule orthognathic surgery correctly, use the functional appliances and extra-oral tractions, and attain the ideal correction of skeletal inconsistencies (2). Different approaches are utilized in assessing dental age, including the observation of the extent of mineralization of developing teeth from radiographs and the observation of the teeth eruption timing (3). However, tooth calcification is regarded as a more dependable dental development indicator than gingival surfacing since it is unaffected by such narrow factors as the loss of the primary teeth, malnutrition, inadequate space, ankyloses, dental decays, and orthodontic abnormalities, and it is more genetically determined (4). Different scoring techniques have been implemented to aid in the assessment of dental age by utilizing the dental calcification stages of permanent teeth. This retrospective study aims at assessing the dental and chronological age of children from Poland (Lodz state) using the Demirjian method [...]
