Journal of Forensic Odonto-Stomatology最新文献

Juvenile crime or delinquency has been increasing at an alarming rate in recent times. In many countries, including India, the minimum age for criminal responsibility is 16 years. The present study aimed to estimate the probability of a south Indian adolescent either being or being older than the legally relevant age of 16 years using Demirjian's tooth formation stages. Orthopantomograms (OPG) of 640 south Indian adolescents (320 boys and 320 girls) aged between 12 and 20 years were retrospectively analyzed. In each OPG, Demirjian's formation stage of the mandibular left third molar was recorded and the data was subjected to statistical analysis. Descriptive and Pearsons correlation statistics were performed. The empirical probabilities were provided relative to the medico-legal question of predicting 16 years of age. The distribution of age throughout the 10th, 25th, 50th, 75th and 90th percentile follows a logical distribution pattern horizontally and vertically. Pearson's correlation statistics showed a strong positive correlation between the Demirjian's stages and age for both sexes. Therefore, it can be concluded that stage "F" can be used to predict the attainment of age equal to or older than 16 years with a probability of 93.9% for boys and 96.6% for girls.

Sex estimation is an important part of forensic human identification, and when primary methods cannot be applied, forensic anthropology becomes an important auxiliary method of identification. The maxillary sinus may remain intact even if the skull is severely damaged and could thus be used in forensic investigations. The objective of this study was to verify the effectiveness of the evaluation of the maxillary sinus as a technique for sex estimation. Articles published in the past 10 years were searched using PubMed, Web of Science, Scopus, and Cochrane databases, including those that used computed tomography to perform maxillary sinus measurements with the purpose of sex estimation. Studies that used radiographs to perform the measurements were excluded because they do not allow for a three-dimensional analysis. Studies that did not provide information regarding the origin of the analyzed population were also excluded. The selected articles were evaluated for methodological quality according to the indication of the objective, studied population, inclusion and exclusion criteria, parameters for obtaining the computed tomography image, measurements evaluated, bias discussion, and ethical authorization. From the 52 articles found, 18 were included. The populations studied included Indians, Iraqis, Iranians, Egyptians, Brazilians, French, Dutch, and Turkish. Height, width, length, and volume of the maxillary sinus were measured. The maxillary sinus can act as an auxiliary tool for sex estimation in forensic investigations.

Change is the universal law of nature, and human bodies after death cannot be an exception for a long time. In forensic science, the tissue from the hardest part of the human body is the only hope to establish the identity, and maternity/paternity of unidentified dead bodies. In this case, a foreign national on a tourist visa to one of the Himalayan states went missing when passing through a dense forest. His relatives could not trace him despite the best efforts of the search team, because of inaccessible hilly terrain. Later on, shepherds while grazing their livestock in the forest area accidentally came across the fragmented remains of a human skeleton. They informed the villagers, and then the police. Teeth collected during the autopsy and blood samples of the putative son, and wife of the missing foreign national on FTA (Flinders Technology Associates) cards were sent to DNA Division, State Forensic Science Laboratory, Junga, Shimla, Himachal Pradesh to establish the identity. DNA profiles obtained from the blood samples of the putative son, wife of missing foreign national, and teeth showed a complete, and concordant match, which established the identity of the skeleton. Moreover, the probability of paternity (>99.99%) between unidentified deceased person and the putative son also assessed the identity of the deceased. Hence, human teeth from unidentified dead bodies can establish the identity of unidentified deceased persons.

Dental radiographs, endodontic treatment and materials are a source of useful forensic data. The response of dental materials to death-related events are widely studied and provide forensic evidence for experts. This study aimed to analyze the radiographic images of endodontically treated teeth submitted to burial and drowning simulation, verifying its forensic feasibility, applicability and usefulness.

Material and method: n=20 bovine incisor teeth were endodontically treated then divided into two groups: burial and drowning scenarios. Teeth were radiographed two times (before and after scenario) with an aluminium stepwedge, and optical density (OD) was assessed in each root third, in both radiographs, and then compared (ANOVA and Tukey test) for each scenario.

Results: Burial scenario did not significantly alter radiopacity. As for the drowning scenario, there was no difference in radiopacity between the root thirds before the test. After drowning, the apical third demonstrated lower OD (p<.05) than the other two thirds. Comparing the OD before and after drowning, medium third presented lower and cervical third demonstrated higher means (p<.05) after drowning.

Conclusion: We concluded that drowning conditions could alter the radiopacity of endodontically treated teeth, more specifically in the medium and cervical thirds. There is no evidence that this also occurs in burial situations. This has the potential to be useful in forensic casework as an initial sign of the type of ambient in which the body was supposedly exposed or set.

Age estimation significantly contributes to forensic medicine and law enforcement in Indonesia. However, lateral cephalometric radiographs of cervical vertebrae have not been used to estimate age in the Indonesian population. This study developed a formula to estimate the skeletal age of cervical vertebrae using multiple linear regression analyses, estimating the dental age and evaluating the agreement between cervical vertebrae skeletal-chronological, dental-chronological, and cervical vertebrae skeletal-dental ages. Several anatomical parameters were measured to obtain cervical vertebrae ratios from 100 lateral cephalometric radiographs, and followed by the calculation of  dental tooth crown index data from 100 panoramic radiographs of subjects 9-18 years old. The Bland-Altman plot of cervical vertebrae skeletal and dental ages showed a mean difference of -0.094 ± 1.52 years, with upper and lower limits of 2.882 and -3.070 years, respectively. The means of the cervical vertebrae skeletal, dental, and chronological ages were 13.97 (2.67), 14.06 (2.45), and 13.97 (2.97), respectively. The mean differences between cervical vertebrae skeletal-chronological and dental-chronological ages were 0.566 (2.26) and 4.005 (2.07), respectively. Furthermore, a validation trial (group 2, n = 10, three males and seven females) was conducted to test the accuracy of the cervical vertebrae skeletal age estimation formula using consecutive sampling. The age range was 9-11 years. Cervical vertebrae skeletal age showed a better agreement with chronological age than did dental age.

The importance of age estimation in the forensic field is inherent to the process of establishing the biological profile of children, sub-adults and adults. The established profile might be useful for the identification of deceased victims or living individuals when it comes to age of legal interest. In parallel, age estimation is also investigated for clinical purposes, especially for the diagnosis of dental and bone maturation. Several studies were developed to provide accurate age estimation methods based on skeletal and dental development. This study aimed to apply and compare Cameriere's and Willems' methods for dental age estimation in a Brazilian sample. Two examiners performed image analysis and method application in 180 panoramic radiographs of Brazilian children aged 6-14 years old. The ages estimated with both methods revealed a good correlation with the chronological ages of Brazilian boys and girls. Cameriere's method showed a slight underestimation of 0.05 years for girls and 0.03 for boys. Willems' method, on the other hand, showed an overestimation of -0.47 years for girls and -0.39 for boys. Better age estimates were obtained combining the outcomes of both methods. In practice, Cameriere's and Willems' methods reached reliable outcomes and could be applied for dental age estimation purposes.

The grinding of a whole tooth specimen has been considered the conventional method to extract genomic deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) in forensic science. However, we have tried the less destructive reverse root canal filing (RRCF) method without disturbing the morphology of the tooth to achieve competent amplifiable DNA. A total of 27 pairs of bilateral intact extracted teeth from the same subject were used in three different simulated environmental conditions for the respective RRCF and conventional methods: (a) soil burial for six months, (b) incineration at 200º C for four minutes, and (c) immersion in water for two months. Qualitative agarose gel electrophoresis assessment and downstream amplification were performed. The results showed significantly higher mean DNA concentration for the RRCF method in all three environmental conditions (p value = 0.008) in comparison to the conventional method. However, comparable qualitative results were found in both methods for the mean DNA concentration for incinerated (159.49 ng/ml), soil (119.52 ng/ml), and water (108.60 ng/ml) samples. It was concluded that the RRCF method is better quantitively (ng/ml) and comparable in terms of quality with respect to the conventional method, with the added advantage of preservation of the tooth morphology.

The aim of this work is to study a sample of girls from 15 different countries using Third Molar Maturity Index (I3M ), to assess the probability that a girl has reached the legal age of 18 years. The studied sample consisted of 3228 Orthopantomograms of healthy female subjects from 15 different countries. The cut-off value of I3M = 0.08 was tested to discriminate adults (≥18 years) and minors (<18 years). X-ray images were processed by computer-aided drafting program ImageJ. The information on sensitivity and specificity of I3M coming from the 15 countries was pooled together using a bivariate Bayesian modeling approach. Specificity of the I3M test did not change when the country was considered, and its value remains greater than 85% for each studied country. This method is useful to estimate the age of the girls involved in suspected early marriage because of the high probability of correctly identifying a minor with similar results observed among tested populations.

Aim: The present work aimed to evaluate age-related variations in the dental pulp chamber volume of second molars using cone beam computed tomography (CBCT) imaging, in order to establish a specific mathematical model for second molars and measure its accuracy, especially in the case of Egyptian adults.

Subjects and methods: From 187 subjects between 21-50 years of age, CBCT images of 257 maxillary and 248 mandibular second molars were included. A mathematical model for human age estimation was established. An independent additional set of CBCT images was obtained to test the model's accuracy.

Results: For maxillary and mandibular teeth, R2 for the pooled sexes were 0.51 and 0.52, and SEE were 5.92 and 5.71, respectively. A model for each sex was established, due to the significant difference between them, where R2 was equal to 0.668 and 0.650 in males and 0.46 and 0.48 in females, concerning maxillary and mandibular teeth, respectively. When testing the validation samples, the mean absolute error (MAE) between the actual and estimated ages from the pooled sex model were 4.89 and 4.61 for maxillary and mandibular teeth, respectively.

Conclusion: The pulp chamber volume of second molars is a relatively accurate indicator for age estimation in Egyptian adults.

Dental age (DA) estimation is an extensively investigated resource used by forensic science. This study aimed to evaluate the applicability of the Measurement of Open Apices for DA estimation in north east Brazilians. A total of 429 orthopantomographs of individuals aged 5 to 14.99 years were used. The sample was distributed according to the age groups 5-6.99, 7-8.99, 9-10.99, 11-12.99 and 13-14.99 years, and the data were analyzed descriptively and by linear regression (α= 5%). The majority of the radiographs were from females (n = 241; 56.2%), with an overall mean age of 12 years (± 2.12). A significant difference was observed between DA and chronological age (CA) in the total sample and specifically in females and males. The method underestimated CA by 0.31 year (total sample) and by 0.3 and 0.32 year in females and males, respectively. In contrast, the method overestimated CA in the groups 5-6.99 and 7-8.99 years, with a mean difference (MD) of 0.48 year (p = 0.007) and 0.17 year (p = 0.182), respectively. In the other groups, DA was predicted to be below CA, with a significant difference in the group 13-14.99 (0.75 year). Based on the regression analysis, a correction factor was proposed from the original formula for this population, thereby reaching a predictive power of approximately 80%. To conclude, this method is applicable to the study population aged 5 to 13 years as the estimates obtained did not exceed the error limit of ±1 year.