Dental age estimation using the pulp-to-tooth ratio in canines by neural networks

PURPOSE: It has been proposed that using new prediction methods, such as neural networks based on dental data, could improve age estimation. This study aimed to assess the possibility of exploiting neural networks for estimating age by means of the pulp-to-tooth ratio in canines as a non-destructive, non-expensive, and accurate method. In addition, the predictive performance of neural networks was compared with that of a linear regression model. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Three hundred subjects whose age ranged from 14 to 60 years and were well distributed among various age groups were included in the study. Two statistical software programs, SPSS 21 (IBM Corp., Armonk, NY, USA) and R, were used for statistical analyses. RESULTS: The results indicated that the neural network model generally performed better than the regression model for estimation of age with pulp-to-tooth ratio data. The prediction errors of the developed neural network model were acceptable, with a root mean square error (RMSE) of 4.40 years and a mean absolute error (MAE) of 4.12 years for the unseen dataset. The prediction errors of the regression model were higher than those of the neural network, with an RMSE of 10.26 years and a MAE of 8.17 years for the test dataset. CONCLUSION: The neural network method showed relatively acceptable performance, with an MAE of 4.12 years. The application of neural networks creates new opportunities to obtain more accurate estimations of age in forensic research.

[Report of an extensive maxillary perforation resulting from mucormycosis and its treatment]

Mucormycosis is a rare and invasive fungal infection with a high mortality that usually affects immunocompromised patients. The major route of infection is inhalation. An extensive necrotic ulcer in the mouth could be indicative of fungal invasion. A 67-year-old woman was visited in the department of Oral Medicine of Hamadan dental school with perforation and extensive and progressive ulcer in palate from 2 month ago. The patient had a history of swelling in the face and proptosis in the right eye from five months ago. Lab tests revealed an uncontrolled diabetes mellitus. Biopsy was carried out under clinical diagnosis of deep fungal infection and final diagnosis was mucormycosis. Early detection of mucormycosis could increase survival rate. Therefore, dentists can play an important role in primary diagnosis of the lesions. Systemic diseases could also be diagnosed and referred for treatment by the dentists