Mensurações de ápices radiculares de jovens brasileiros como uma ferramenta para identificação humana legal

Abstract

Determining the age of young individuals, living or deceased, is important for forensic science. Chronological age estimation, based on radiographic evaluation of dental development, is a reliable method, when compared to assessment of skeletal development. For this purpose, the method stated by Galic et al. 2006 stands out for evaluating dental age of young individuals, in panoramic radiographs. Although tested in different populations, it needs to evaluate several teeth, based on two-dimensional examination. The present study proposes a new method, evaluating just a tooth in computed tomography (CBCT). The tomographic precision allows undistorted measurements avoiding this inherent limitation related to panoramic radiography. Two researchers measured the lengths of lower third molars and their respective open apical diameters in 300 CBCTs of individuals from 14 to 24 years, without pathologies, anomalies or dental inclinations. Intra and interobserver ICCs indicated almost perfect agreement. Grouping examinations by gender, the dental maturation was compared with chronological age, based on the method of Galic et al. (2017). The ANOVA analysis distinguished groups of individuals less than 16 years and presented limitations for older individuals. It was concluded that the proposed method is feasible for the estimation of chronological age, in a reproducible way, with statistically significant results for ages between 14 and 16 years.