Assessment of dental maturity of children aged 3.5 to 13.5 years using the Demirjian method in an Iranian population.

Radiographs of developing teeth are commonly used to assess dental maturity. The method for assessment of dental maturity first described by Demirjian is widely used and accepted. The aim of this study was to assess the accuracy of the Demirjian method in an Iranian population in order to compare the difference in dental maturity between these children with the data obtained in Canadian children and to determine whether there is a correlation between dental maturity and BMI-for-age. In this study, the orthopantomographs of 519 healthy children (264 boys and 255 girls) aged 3.5-13.5 years were reviewed and the dental age was determined by the Demirjian method. The chronological ages of the children were obtained by subtracting their birthdates from the date of taking the radiograph. Height and weight measurements were also recorded and the data were analyzed using SPSS-16 software. The Demirjian method overestimated the age by 0.15 and 0.21 years in boys and girls, respectively. Paired t-test analysis showed that these differences were statistically significant (P = 0.001). The increase in mean age difference initiated from the underweight group towards the overweight group, but this correlation was not statistically significant (P = 0.094). Based on the amount of differences between estimated dental age and chronological age in this investigation, the Demirjian method seems to be clinically applicable in the Iranian population.