The use of apical translucent dentine of the lower central incisors to predict age in individual or known gender

Abstract

Apical translucent dentine has been shown to provide accurate results for age  estimation but its value in discriminating gender has received little attention. The objective of the current study was to determine the association between apical  translucent dentine of the lower central incisors with age and gender. Sixty  permanent lower central incisors were collected and were sectioned to a thickness of 5 mm. Apical translucent dentine was measured using callipers. This was followed by the creation of a series of scatter plots and regression line calculation for the association between apical translucent dentine and age. Regression analysis was done to determine the differences between male and female subjects’, both as a single and as an interaction term between gender and percentage length of apical  translucent dentine. There was no significant difference in the mean age with  respect to gender (mean difference -0.17, Pvalue= 0.94). Significant correlations  were observed between age and apical dentine translucence (I) (0.95, P-value  <0.01). This significant correlation was maintained even after dividing by the root length (L) (0.99, P-value <0.01). In the final model all the variables were retained to give a prediction line described by the equation Age= 9.96 + 0.52  (I/L*100)-0.68 (gender). Apical translucent dentine was strongly correlated to age. The ratio between apical dentine translucence (I) and root length increased significantly by 0.52% for every additional year in the age of the participant sampled, which was significantly lower in females than males.

 
Keywords: Age estimation, apical translucent dentine, forensic odontology.