Assessment of Age at Death in Perinatal Individuals from Dental Histology Analysis. An Exploratory Study

Age estimation is one of the main data used in the study of child skeletal remains in forensic and bioarchaeological investigations.Objective: Our aim was to assess the age at death attributed through methods based on bone development and by analysing the microstructure of tooth enamel.Methods: Age at death was estimated using femur length and dental histology in 9 perinatal individuals of known age.Two methods were selected for the estimation of age at death from femur length.Previous work has reported that these two methods produce the best estimations of the age at death of individuals.For the dental histology analysis, longitudinal ground sections of 6 deciduous incisors from 5 individuals were examined.Incremental lines in the tooth enamel (striae of Retzius and the neonatal line) were used to estimate the age at death, assuming a daily secretion rate of 3.23 m. Results:The ages estimated by the two methods based on femur length differ, except for those concerning the last stage of gestation.It is interesting to note that the accuracy of the estimation depends on whether the method was established with prenatal or postnatal individuals.Estimated ages based on dental histology (N=3 individuals) are consistent with the recorded data. Conclusion:The study of dental histology based on the analysis of enamel microanatomy has some limitations but allows the age at death in to be established very accurately.The quality and quantity of data that this technique provides is of prime importance for forensic studies and for analyses of historical populations and archaeological remains.