The applicability of the Demirjian, Willems and Chaillet standards to age estimation of 5-15 year old Indian children.

BACKGROUND: Demirjian's method of age estimation has been reported to overestimate age and Willems' method to give consistently more accurate results. Not enough, however, is known about the applicability of Chaillet's standards. AIM: The present study aimed to compare the accuracy of Demirjian's, Willems' and Chaillet's standards in age estimation of 5 to 15 year-old Indian children. DESIGN: In this cross-sectional observational study, three methods were compared for accuracy in estimating the age of 1200 Indian children aged 5-15 years. RESULTS: Demirjian's method overestimated age by +0.24 ± 0.80 years, +0.11 ± 0.81years and +0.19 ± 0.80 years in boys, girls and the total sample, respectively. With Willems' method, overestimations of +0.09 ± 0.80 years, +0.08 ± 0.80 years and +0.09 ± 0.80 years were obtained in boys, girls and the total sample, respectively. Chaillet's method underestimated age by -0.12 ± 0.69 years, -0.45 ± 0.88 years and -0.25 ± 0.83 years in boys, girls and the total sample, respectively. Statistically significant differences were observed between dental and chronological ages with all methods (p < 0.001). Significant sex-based differences were observed only with Demirjian's and Chaillet's methods (p < 0.05). CONCLUSION: Willems' method was the most accurate in age estimation, followed by Demirjian's and Chaillet's methods. While Demirjian's method was more accurate than Chaillet's in females, Chaillet's method better predicted the age of males.

The applicability of the original and revised Demirjian standards to age estimations of 5-15 year old Indian children.

BACKGROUND: The Demirjian method has been the most widely tested method for the estimation of the dental age of children and adolescents. However, only three studies have compared Demirjian's original and revised seven-tooth methods, four-tooth method and alternate four-tooth method, none of them conducted on an Indian population. AIM: The present study aimed to compare the applicability of the original and revised seven-tooth and four-tooth and alternate four-tooth standards for age estimation of 1200 Indian children aged 5-15 years old. DESIGN: The study was designed as a retrospective cross-sectional study. RESULTS: Demirjian's original seven-tooth method overestimated age by 0.64 ± 1.44, 0.75 ± 1.50 and 0.69 ± 1.46 years in boys, girls and the total sample, respectively. Demirjian's revised seven-tooth method overestimated age by + 0.24 ± 0.80, + 0.11 ± 0.81 and + 0.19 ± 0.80 years in boys, girls and the total sample, respectively. Demirjian's original four-tooth method overestimated age by 0.79 ± 1.59, 0.59 ± 2.77 and 0.72 ± 2.30 years in boys, girls and the total sample, respectively. Demirjian's alternate four-tooth method overestimated age by 1.31 ± 1.07, 1.20 ± 1.10 and 1.26 ± 1.08 years in boys, girls and the total sample, respectively. Statistically significant differences were observed between dental and chronological ages with all methods (p <0.001).  Significant gender-based differences were observed only with Demirjian's revised seven-tooth and original four-tooth methods (p <0.05).  Conclusion: The revised seven-tooth standards most accurately predicted the age of the study sample (mean prediction error = 2.28 months), followed by the original seven-tooth, four-tooth and alternate four-tooth standards. The Demirjian original seven-tooth method was significantly more accurate in boys compared to girls, while the reverse was true for the Demirjian revised seven-tooth and original four-tooth methods.