Evaluation and Comparison of the Accuracy of Nolla and Demirjian Methods for Age Estimation in a Sample of Egyptian Children using Panoramic Radiographs (a Retrospective Study)

Background: Age estimation is a crucial step in forensics. For living this could be valuable in civil conflicts e.g., marriage, employment, military, and recruitment. Also, it is important in criminal cases involving rape, kidnapping, and illegal immigration. In cadavers, it could help in the identification of victims of mass disasters e.g., fires, crashes. Aim: The current study aimed at estimating the age of a sample of Egyptian children through using both Nolla and Demirjain methods, Comparing these ages with their chronological ages, and generating an equation that could be used to predict chronological age in both males and females and then assessing the accuracy of these methods. Materials & Methods: A retrospective study on dental panoramic radiographs of 180 children aged 4-16 years. The mean dental age (DA) according to the Demirjian and Nolla methods were compared to the mean chronological age (CA). Results: The mean CA of the study sample was 9.90±2.71y and 9.40±3.23y for females and males, respectively. Using the Demirjian method, the mean estimated DA was 9.38±2.09 years for females and 9.77±3.01years for males. For Nolla method, the mean estimated DA was 8.48±1.79 and 9.07±2.77years for females and males, respectively. The mean differences between the DA and CA according to the Demirjian were -0.52y and 0.37y for females and males, respectively. For Nolla method the mean differences were -1.42y and -0.33y. Conclusions: Nolla method was found to underestimate DA in Egyptian children, while the Demirjian method tends to overestimate it. But Nolla method showed more accuracy.