Abstract

CHANDLER, S  and  PHILLIPS, VM. Testing Gustafson's dental age estimation method on a sample of Western Cape adults. S. Afr. dent. j. [online]. 2018, vol.73, n.9, pp.554-558. ISSN 0375-1562.  http://dx.doi.org/10.17159/2519-0105/2018/v73no9a2.

INTRODUCTION: Teeth are often used to assist in the identification of human bodies after death, especially in cases where the body is badly burned or decomposed. Age estimation can play a significant role in helping narrow down the spectrum of possible identities. Gustafson created a method of dental age estimation, using six age-related changes of teeth that occur after the eruption of the dentition. This age estimation method has been used on unidentified individuals at the Salt River and the Tygerberg Medico-Legal Laboratories. However, it may be questionable as to whether the method is accurate when applied to the population of the Western Cape AIM: The aim of this study was to test the accuracy of Gustafson's method on a sample of adult teeth from the Western Cape, of known chronological age METHODS: Extracted mandibular central and lateral incisors and maxillary central incisors were used in this study. Two examiners independently used Gustafson's method to estimate the ages of the donors of the teeth CONCLUSION: This method was found to be inaccurate when applied to a sample of the adult population of the Western Cape

Keywords : forensic dentistry; age estimation; teeth.

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