Contribution of third molar eruption to the estimation of the forensic age of living individuals.

Forensic age estimation of a living individual is frequently performed in clinical forensic medicine. Medicolegal physicians are usually called upon by the authorities to estimate the age of a living person requesting asylum or to determine whether a suspected offender is subject to juvenile or adult criminal law. Dental age is one of the parameters studied to estimate biological age. Several methods are used, and among these, analysis of the eruption of the third molar (M3) on an orthopantomogram (OPG) is one of the common methods. The objective of the study was to analyse the contribution of M3 eruption to age estimation, in particular with regard to the threshold of 18 years of age, in a sample of individuals examined in a French university hospital. The stage of wisdom tooth eruption of all individuals aged between 15 and 24 years, who had an OPG performed between 1 January 2013 and 31 December 2015, was interpreted using a three-stage scoring system. In total, 557 OPGs (340 males and 217 females) were included. None of the stage scores allowed a distinction between minors and majors, for either sex. Overall, 85% of females and 98% of males with four M3s in stage 3 (complete emergence in the occlusal plane) were majors.

Forensic age estimation using computed tomography of the medial clavicular epiphysis: a systematic review.

Medicolegal physicians are increasingly called upon to aid in determining the administrative age group affiliation of refugees with questionable unaccompanied minor claims. According to guidelines for forensic age assessment, age differentiation along the 18-year-old cut-off relies on clavicular ossification. The thin-slice computed tomography scan (TSCTs) of the medial clavicular epiphysis (MCE) is one of the methods contributing to this assessment, though it is not yet universally accepted. The aim of this systematic review was to identify scientific papers where age was assessed using TSCTs of the MCE and to observe whether this examination was reproducible and reliable in estimating a person's age relative to the 18-year-old threshold. A search algorithm was applied to several databases to identify articles in accordance with the PRISMA (Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic-Reviews and Meta-Analyses) statement. One boxplot per article was constructed, separating by stage of maturation and sex. The 13 articles selected represented a sample of 5605 individuals (3396 males, 2209 females) aged 10 to 35 years. All individuals classified as stages 4 and 5 were aged 18 years or older. The same result was obtained concerning stage 3c, except in one article. The results thus appear reliable and reproducible, in particular, with respect to the 18-year-old threshold; medicolegal physicians should be able to estimate that all individuals in stages 4 and 5 are at least 18 years old. Additional studies applied to several other populations in the world should complement the selected studies.