Dental age estimation of children and adolescents: Validation of the Maltese Reference Data Set.

The purpose of this study was to validate a Reference Data Set, developed from the radiographic archives of the Dental Department, Mater Dei Hospital, Malta, for Dental Age Estimation of the Maltese population and to assess the accuracy of the method. Dental Panoramic Tomograms of 100 male and 100 females were selected. Tooth Development Stages were recorded for all 16 permanent teeth on the left and both third molars on the right. Summary and percentile data were calculated for each Tooth Development Stage and the Dental Age of each subject estimated using the unweighted average method. The distribution of the differences between the Dental and Chronological age was analysed. There was no statistically significant difference between the means of the Dental and Chronological ages and the mean differences were within acceptable limits. The conclusion was that the Dataset is valid for the Maltese population and the method used gives adequate accuracy.

Dental age assessment of Maltese children and adolescents. Development of a reference dataset and comparison with a United Kingdom Caucasian reference dataset.

The purpose of this study was to develop and validate a Reference Data Set for Dental Age Assessment of the Maltese population and compare the mean Age of Attainment to a UK Caucasian Reference Data Set. The Maltese Reference Data Set was developed from 1593 Dental Panoramic Tomograms of patients aged between 4 and 26 years, taken from the radiographic archives of the Dental Department, Mater Dei Hospital, Malta. Tooth Development Stages were recorded for all 16 maxillary and mandibular permanent teeth on the left side and both permanent third molars on the right, according to Demirjian's staging method. Summary and percentile data were calculated for each Tooth Development Stage, including the mean Age of Attainment. These means were used to estimate the Dental Age of each subject in the study sample using the simple unweighted average method. The estimated Dental Age was compared to the gold standard of the Chronological Age. Comparison of the Maltese and UK Caucasian Reference Data Set was by a series of t-tests, carried out for each paired Tooth Development Stage by gender. The mean Age of Attainment was slightly higher for the Maltese than the UK Caucasians in both males and females. However there was no statistically significant difference between the Chronological Age and Dental Age for either sex.