A Comparison of Two Methods of Dental Age Estimation in a Population of Saudi Children and Adolescents

Heba H Bakhsh; Nada A Al-Shehri; Alanoud Shahwan; Rabab Altuwairqi; Faten J Mojaleed; Ghaida Alwaalan; Shahad Asaad

doi:10.3390/diagnostics14171935

A Comparison of Two Methods of Dental Age Estimation in a Population of Saudi Children and Adolescents

Diagnostics (Basel). 2024 Sep 2;14(17):1935. doi: 10.3390/diagnostics14171935.

Authors

Heba H Bakhsh¹, Nada A Al-Shehri¹, Alanoud Shahwan², Rabab Altuwairqi³, Faten J Mojaleed⁴, Ghaida Alwaalan², Shahad Asaad⁵

Affiliations

¹ Department of Preventive Dental Sciences, College of Dentistry, Princess Nourah bint Abdulrahman University, P.O. Box 84428, Riyadh 11671, Saudi Arabia.
² General Dentist, Private Clinic, Riyadh 13241, Saudi Arabia.
³ Department of Orthodontics, King Saud Medical City, Riyadh 12746, Saudi Arabia.
⁴ Riyadh Second Health Cluster, Ministry of Health, Riyadh 13324, Saudi Arabia.
⁵ Pediatric Resident-Ministry of Health, Riyadh 12211, Saudi Arabia.

Abstract

This study aimed to compare and evaluate the accuracy of the Demirjian (DE) and the London Atlas (LAE) dental age estimation methods in a Saudi population sample. This retrospective cross-sectional study used digital radiographs from electronic health records in three different dental institutes. In total, 357 male and 354 female (ages 5-15 years) digital orthopantomograms were selected for age estimation. The mean difference between the chronological age (CA) and age estimation method among males and females was 0.03 ± 0.34 and 0.00 ± 0.34, respectively, for LAE and 0.55 ± 0.84 and 0.76 ± 0.51, respectively, for DE. The mean difference between the LAE and DE methods among males and females was 0.52 ± 0.89 and -0.76 ± 0.57, respectively. No statistically significant difference between CA and LAE was found in either males (p = 0.079) or females (p = 0.872). A statistically significant difference was found between CA and DE in both genders (p < 0.001). A statistically significant difference was found between the LAE and DE groups (p < 0.001) in both genders. An overestimation of dental age was observed with DE compared with that in CA. LAE showed higher accuracy than CA, with no clinically significant difference. Although the difference between the LAE and DE methods was insignificant, the LAE method proved to be more accurate.

Keywords: Demirjian; London atlas; age estimation; dental age; orthopantomogram; panoramic radiograph.

Grants and funding

This research was funded by, Princess Nourah bint Abdulrahman University researchers supporting project number PNURSP2024R427 at Princess Nourah bint Abdulrahman University, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.