Dental Age Estimation by Means of Video Spectral Comparator

Introduction: Radiographic methods for dental age estimation are non-destructive and widely excepted in forensic examina¬tion. Dental radiographs are an integral part of dental patients documentation. videospectral comparator is forensic equip¬ment for document examination. Aim of this paper was to examine possibilities of dental age estimation by modified Kvaal solheim method for extracted teeth using vsC 5000 video spectral comparator instead of stereomicroscope. Material and methods: sample was consisted of extracted teeth of adults whose age was known. Teeth were radiographed and dental age was estimated according to Kvaal-solheim method that was modified by using video spectral comparator vsC 5000. results: Estimated dental age is higly connected with chonological age at 99% certanity level (pearsons cooeficient 0,71). paired t-test showed that method is reliable when applied to canines only, but not reliable for incisors and premolars. By means of multiple regression novel formulas for den tal age estimation are derived. disscusion: estimated dental age is within forensic limits. Nevertheless, precision differance could be caused by method modification, sample origin or limitations of statistical methods applied. Conclusion: Modified Kvaal-solheim method can be used to estimate dental age as well as videospectral comparator, but further research are needed.