IMR Press / FBL / Volume 27 / Issue 5 / DOI: 10.31083/j.fbl2705141
Open Access Original Research
Age estimation using tooth cementum annulations: bias and sources of inaccuracy
Show Less
1 Department of Neuroscience and Rehabilitation, University of Ferrara, 44121 Ferrara, Italy
2 Department of Medical Sciences, University of Ferrara, 44121 Ferrara, Italy
*Correspondence: emanuela.gualdi@unife.it (Emanuela Gualdi-Russo); margherita.neri@unife.it (Margherita Neri)
Academic Editors: Luigi Cipolloni and Raffaele La Russa
Front. Biosci. (Landmark Ed) 2022, 27(5), 141; https://doi.org/10.31083/j.fbl2705141
Submitted: 29 November 2021 | Revised: 2 February 2022 | Accepted: 8 February 2022 | Published: 26 April 2022
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Innovation in Forensic Pathology and Forensic Genetics)
Copyright: © 2022 The Author(s). Published by IMR Press.
This is an open access article under the CC BY 4.0 license.
Abstract

Background: Counting the tooth cementum annulations (TCA) is a method for estimating the age at death of adults by sections of their tooth root. The objective of this study was to assess the precision of counting the cementum incremental lines and the congruence between known age and age estimates. Possible factors affecting the accuracy of the estimate were also analyzed. Methods: A sample of 67 permanent teeth extracted from individuals with known age (18–84 years) and sex was analyzed to calculate the dental age. Results: Results demonstrate an excellent inter- and intra-observer reliability of annuli counting, with dissimilarities within the limits of agreement. A moderate positive correlation was found between chronological age and TCA. Our results showed that age congruence rates differed across age groups (85% congruence in individuals 30 years; 75% in individuals aged 31–60 years; 60% in the over 60s). Considering the bias, this method showed a clear tendency to underestimate age in specimens from old people. After age 43, the TCA estimate is highly inaccurate exceeding the underestimation of 10 years, on average, in comparison to the chronological age. Both chronological age and dental arch seem to influence the accuracy of estimates, unlike sex and the tooth root number. Conclusions: TCA analysis is characterized by high precision and low accuracy, decreasing with age. Therefore, its applicability is limited in elderly subjects. The choice of methods for age estimation in adult skeletal remains should take into account the particular age range of individuals. We recommend using different age estimation methods to verify the reliability of the performed assessments.

Keywords
age estimation
forensic anthropology
cementochronology
tooth cementum annulations
Figures
Fig. 1.
Share
Back to top