AGE ESTIMATION IN DENTISTRY

Age is one of the essential factors in establishing the identity of the person. It plays an important role in forensic medicine, clinical dentistry and archaeology. Age estimation is crucial in medico legal cases and importance in forensic medicine not only for identifying deceased victims but also in connection with crimes and accidents. Age estimation of unknown human bodies is very important in the setting of a crime investigation as well as mass disaster. In addition chronological age is important in most societies for school attendance, employment, social benefits and marriage. In adulthood teeth undergo time related changes representing biological aging can be used for age determination. The age for the individual can be assessed as skeletal, morphological, secondary sex character and dental age. Based on an appropriate knowledge of the available methods, forensic dentists can choose the most appropriate method since the validity of the age estimation crucially depends on the method used and its proper application. Numerous methods and studies have been put forward so far each one have having different applications, accuracy and reliability.